Paramount premiered Damien Chazelle‘s massive new 188 minute film, Babylon, on Monday night, and so far the reactions have been mostly positive. The heady period project stars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt as it explores the wild excess of 1920s Hollywood, which is apparently a lot like modern day Hollywood depictions because everyone’s doing tons of coke.
If there’s one word that comes up in almost every reaction, it’s cocaine. We’re not even joking. Just take a look at what the critics are saying below:
“Babylon is an ambitious mess of a film,” Scott Menzel wrote. “I don’t even know where to begin with this one but the tone is all over the place. Margot Robbie tries but the script fails her. A love letter to cinema that made me hate cinema.”
Babylon is an ambitious mess of a film. I don’t even know where to begin with this one but the tone is all over the place. Margot Robbie tries but the script fails her. A love letter to cinema that made me hate cinema. #BabylonMovie pic.twitter.com/BnKQiOz2Zd
— Scott Menzel (@ScottDMenzel) November 15, 2022
“#Babylon feels like if someone read Damien Chazelle the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and then he said, ‘hold my beer!’” Clayton Davis tweeted. “High octane, cocaine-inducing trip. First half is great. Likely the internet’s new favorite movie of all-time. Margot Robbie and Justin Hurwitz are your stars.”
#Babylon feels like if someone read Damien Chazelle the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and then he said, “hold my beer!”
High octane, cocaine-inducing trip. First half is great. Likely the internet’s new favorite movie of all-time. Margot Robbie and Justin Hurwitz are your stars. pic.twitter.com/aM3rru1so0— Clayton Davis – Stand with
(@ByClaytonDavis) November 15, 2022
“BABYLON: Truly monstrous in its thudding insistence on shoving the viewer’s face in the muck and claiming it’s something novel or moving,” Ryan Swen wrote. “Chazelle might be the most confident director in Hollywood today, of course he’s also got some of the worst instincts out there.”
BABYLON: Truly monstrous in its thudding insistence on shoving the viewer’s face in the muck and claiming it’s something novel or moving; Chazelle might be the most confident director in Hollywood today, of course he’s also got some of the worst instincts out there.
— Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tianxing (@swen_ryan) November 15, 2022
“A coked-up Margot Robbie projectile vomiting all over the face of a stuffy old man in a tux pretty much sums up the chaotic energy and glorious messiness of BABYLON,” Kevin Polowy tweeted. “Truly the strangest, most debaucherous love letter to Hollywood ever.”
A coked-up Margot Robbie projectile vomiting all over the face of a stuffy old man in a tux pretty much sums up the chaotic energy and glorious messiness of BABYLON, truly the strangest, most debaucherous love letter to Hollywood ever.
— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) November 15, 2022
You can see more Babylon reactions below:
#Babylon is definitely a wild ride! But it’s also an interesting & crazy journey to revisit the history of Hollywood & Cinema . Love the music and star-packed casts. #MargotRobbie really gives it all. She is sensational. Li Jun Li steals the show every time she is on screen. pic.twitter.com/xt6TUqE6sV
— Maggie Ma (@MaggieMa_LA) November 15, 2022
#Babylon is one of the best movies of the year! Damien Chazelle knocks it out of the park. Stylish, hilarious, and incredibly entertaining from start to finish. The scene where Brad Pitt dances on a ledge didn’t need to be 40 minutes long. Otherwise great! pic.twitter.com/GASlD8cEko
— Dan (@Danimalish) November 15, 2022
Not often you see mind-blowing movies made for the big screen – Damien Chazelle just made one with Babylon. It is bold, unique, intense, insane, ultimately profound. #BabylonMovie
— Awards Daily (@AwardsDaily) November 15, 2022
Let me tell you something. Diego Calva in Babylon, fantastic. Can’t wait to see him in more stuff. His acting is so tender and visceral. pic.twitter.com/xU3Sh570Hm
— Destiny Jackson (@DestinyDreadful) November 15, 2022
Damien Chazelle brings buckets of energy to BABYLON, but it’s never not pounding and obvious and, finally, uninsightful. Everything about it is borrowed — even down to Tobey Maguire stealing the film as its Alfred Molina. A Scorsese coke film by a squeaky clean director.
— Joshua Rothkopf (@joshrothkopf) November 15, 2022
#Babylon is both a sensational celebration of cinema as an art form and a deeply probing condemnation of the mechanics behind said art form. Overflowing with razzamatazz – gorgeous cinematography, costumes, design and full of killer performances. Pairs well with NOPE. Loved it.
pic.twitter.com/DOsEi2VBAL
— Drew Taylor (@DrewTailored) November 15, 2022
Here’s the official synopsis:
From Damien Chazelle, Babylon is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.
Babylon opens in theaters on December 23.