59
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanIt's like seeing the birth of the '60s, with great moments (including Neal Cassady doing speed-freak monologues).
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleThe period footage shows all the principals, including Neal Cassady, who was only 38 but looked 52. Ken Kesey emerges as the film's hero - he is presented as a great American adventurer, the psychological equivalent of Lewis and Clark. Maybe that's not as ridiculous as it sounds.
- 65MovielineMichelle OrangeMovielineMichelle OrangeI'd say you had to be there, but over the course of Magic Trip we learn that the majority of the people who were there didn't want to be there.
- 63Slant MagazineNick SchagerSlant MagazineNick SchagerAt its best, Magic Trip evokes the freewheeling, idealistic, psychedelic vibe of an era's origins; at worst, it's a film in which people narrate their own druggie home movies.
- 63New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickIt's basically left to the viewer to figure out the historical significance of this drug-fueled odyssey.
- 60Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanWhat it lacks, perhaps unavoidably, is a sense of the cosmic Now; the movie recovers, without exactly illuminating, a "long, strange trip" that seems all the stranger as it recedes into the past.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThe directors rarely go beyond the experiential to provide larger, lasting insight into the journey's generational and historical importance. As such, the comedown from this Trip is a real bitch.
- In spite of this honey-toned self-documentation and some trippy visuals from the Imaginary Forces studio, Magic Trip is about as fun as being the only sober person at a party.
- 55NPRMark JenkinsNPRMark JenkinsFor those already somewhat familiar with the subject, the directors' distillation of these 40 hours of film will expand their knowledge - if not their consciousness. But other viewers may spend the whole movie wondering exactly when the merry magic is going to kick in.
- 50The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenMagic Trip is the cinematic equivalent of a yellowed scrapbook whose pictures are accompanied by sketchy captions created after the fact.