Are Critics In Tune With Bob Dylan Film?

A Full Unknown—starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan—is new in theaters. How are critics responding to the biopic in regards to the film icon?

A Full Unknown—a title impressed by the lyrics of Dylan’s basic hit Like a Rolling Stone—opens in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day.

The logline for the movie reads, “In 1961, unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York Metropolis along with his guitar. He forges relationships with music icons of Greenwich Village on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking efficiency that reverberates worldwide.”

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Directed by James Mangold, the screenplay for A Full Unknown is written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, and is predicated on Elijah Wald’s e book Dylan Goes Electrical! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Evening That Break up the Sixties.

A Full Unknown additionally stars Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Money, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo—who’s a illustration of Dylan’s former girlfriend in actual life, Suze Rotolo.

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Rotten Tomatoes critics up to now have collectively given A Full Unknown a 79% “recent” ranking primarily based on 163 evaluations.

The RT Critics Consensus for A Full Unknown reads, “Charged by Timothée Chalamet’s electrical efficiency, this ballad of Bob Dylan may not get beneath the enigmatic artist’s pores and skin however will make you’re feeling such as you’ve frolicked in his firm.”

A Full Unknown additionally scored a 95% “recent” ranking on RT’s Popcornmeter primarily based on 250-plus evaluations.

How Are Particular person Critics Reacting To ‘A Full Unknown’?

Leonard Maltin is among the many prime critics on Rotten Tomatoes who offers A Full Unknown a “recent” ranking. On his official web site, Maltin writes, “Will youthful individuals relate to this image and even care about its central figures? I can’t predict that, however I do know after I’ve watched a beautifully-crafted interval piece. That is my favourite movie of the yr.”

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Solar-Occasions additionally offers A Full Unknown a “recent” assessment on RT, writing, “Timothée Chalamet offers an Oscar-worthy efficiency in the most effective movies of 2024.”

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In his “recent” assessment on RT, Los Angeles Occasions critic Joshua Rothkopf makes some pointed observations about Bob Dylan, writing, “Superfans aren’t essentially going to like this. It’s a film made with affection, but in addition with the knowledge that visionaries can typically be jerks.”

Candice Frederick is among the many detractors of the movie on RT, writing in her “rotten” assessment for the HuffPost, “A Full Unknown by no means appears like a lot of a film and definitely not a biopic. Somewhat, it comes throughout as subpar, reality-adjacent fan fiction.”

Odie Henderson of the Boston Globe additionally offers A Full Unknown a “rotten” assessment, writing, “On the subject of fleshing out these characters, we get bupkis. Baez calls Dylan a phrase that begins with ‘a’ and ends in ‘gap,’ and that’s the one persona trait that informs Chalamet’s portrayal.”

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The New Yorker critic Richard Brody isn’t a fan of A Full Unknown both, writing in his “rotten” assessment on RT, “This type of efficiency is basically stunt work and so is the nonmusical mimicry that comes with it. But, as a result of the film emphasizes the characters’ public faces even in personal, it doesn’t demand true emotional depth and expressive vary.”

A Full Unknown is already an awards season contender incomes Greatest Image nominations from the Golden Globes and the Critics Selection Awards, in addition to Greatest Actor nominations from each organizations for Timothée Chalamet.

Rated R, A Full Unknown opens in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day.

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