With some of the most quotable dialogue that I've seen in a film, and a great cast of characters with interesting dynamics, Baumbach creates a strongly built melancholy and nostalgic world in one of his best works.

Hilarious, relatable, and just brings all the vibes. Noah Baumbach is one of the best writer/director's in Hollywood and this is one of my favorites from him. Can I find a girl like Olivia d'Abo?

A fun hang with some fake smart and unhappy people, the banter works throughout.

The dialogue in this movie is incredible. The story is about a very specific and difficult transition in life. That moment when you have to learn to fall in to your adult life. The emotional intensity of that time is explored in many different ways, through the different choices of the characters, all brilliantly portrayed by the very talented cast. I love this movie so much that over the course of time I have owned it on video tape, dvd, blue ray, and now I've purchased it on a streaming service. I like to watch it at least once a year.

Some parts are funny but couldn't get into the majority of the story.

Noah Baumbach's Kicking and Screaming is filled with some clever dialogue. Unfortunately, much of the clever dialogue has nothing to with what preceded it or what follows. And that seems to be the problem with Baumbach's debut as a writer and director – virtually any scene or piece of dialogue could be spliced in elsewhere and nobody would know the difference. The premise of the movie? A group of college graduates, all of them pompous beyond belief, find themselves trapped in a self-created dead zone between university and the real world, a zone where it is acceptable to whine and pout and spout arcane thoughts without any repercussions. The only real reason to watch this is to experience Baumbach's arc as a filmmaker as he evolves and progresses over time from this drivel to, a couple of decades later, the fantastic Marriage Story.

Pre-Gerwig Baumbach at his best because, here, he is most like Whit Stillman, including even some of his actors.

Waste of time. I don't even remember why I watched it. It is slow and seemed to be going nowhere. I guess I can see what was attempted to be captured by this film, but to watch it...it made me feel miserable.

This movie tries to be edgy and funny but comes out as too pretentious and corny. From character to story telling, this movie fails to deliver in every category.

it was pretty good, really establishing that Noah Baumbach can make good movies with great characters and interactions, even though having not very compelling at first sight stories

Beautiful, emotional, touching. So relatable for the post-college work life loneliness. As the movie beautifully puts it the temporary-ness of a bad summer becomes the anxiety of a bad life post college. Brilliant and underrated.

It's a slow, meandering experience of loafers gently cruising through university, unwilling to make the step away from mainstream education. You can tell it's Baumbach's first directorial effort. I didn't find it witty, nor did I find it particularly watchable...

probably would have enjoyed it way more if I were 22 when it came out

Do we head out immediately after college or stay longer to figure out what to do? Josh Hamilton, Chris Eigeman, Parker Posey, Elliot Gould, Perry Reeves, and Olivia d'Abo. 4 college graduates reminisce about their senior year before heading off into the world. They stay on campus longer than they should because like anybody they're not sure if they're ready. Definitely reminds me of the stuff from Richard Linklater. Solipsism and post grad wheel-spinning are looked at. A charming distillation of 90s slacker posturing and the tedium of a quarter-life crisis. The film has a kind of before the flood atmosphere. Even if we end up doing nothing things can still happen anyway, we can only forestall the future for so long, we can educate ourselves if school doesn't teach anything, when you're ready to grow follow your heart use your imagination face the world Noah Baumbach isn't the best here but to be fair it is his first solo outing as a filmmaker and thankfully he gets better over time

Some cute observations, a nice ending, but definitely feels like an 'early'/'lesser'.

I enjoyed watching this film up to the point where I realize it was not really going anywhere. I was liking the experience but I was constantly expecting something to happen so when it kind of didn't, I got frustrated. I am only getting used to films with a more sutil plot (meaning no big climaxes or dramatic turn of events) but in this case I had a hard time putting it all together once it was over. Looking back, the movie had a lot to offer (I actually only realized it when I started writing about what I liked now) but I cannot ignore my sensation when it ended, which wasn't of excitement.
The movie shows a group of friends in a moment that is pretty common for a lot of people: the transition between college and real life. Each in his own way makes an effort to hold up to anything that might feel like they can still be college boys at the campus, be it re-enrolling, dating freshman girls or just not going anywhere. As old and mature as they want to be, they are still spoiled kids that like to spend time drinking, making lists of random things as a game and just doing nothing. The main character, Grover, is in constant pain as he misses his ex-girlfriend who went to Europe after graduation. She leaves several messages at his answering machine, he listens to them all but, for fear or stubbornness, he does not call her back. It kind of seems like the representation of the transition they all are going through: she was his girlfriend in college and, back then, everything was as it was supposed to be. As graduation came, she moved on to a new challenge and he knew he wanted and should get in touch with her but he just stood there without acting, much like the group knows that at some point they will have to face the real life of adults (and might even want it to happen as the excitement of Grover shows when his dad tells him there might be a job opportunity for him). Leaving college is tough, you kind of know what to do but at the same time you kind of don't. The movie illustrates it well, with several interesting dialogues about their reflections of that period, several funny parts that also represent well this stage of life and several moments when they are just going nowhere. 
As much as it wasn't love at first sight to me, this is a great debut for a director as young as Noah Baumbach was when it was made and I can see already some of the characteristics of his directing that got to me in his recent films.

Nothing truly happens but it's fun to get through.

Good shit. Up there with Madagascar 3.

I couldn't wait for this to end such a pretentious and little funny movie about snobs I never really cared about

I was really looking forward to watching this film and so when I sat down with my family on a Monday night I thought I was in for a real treat. I ended up only mildly enjoying the film, my experience of it was possibly lessened by my parents' constant interjections, which was rather disappointing considering what I had built it up to be in my mind but altogether it was a decent slice of life film about directionless post-grads. I am a big fan of Baumbach's later films such as The Squid and the Whale (2005) and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) but this feels very much like a first film as the dialogue is entertaining but not as polished or well-observed as in future projects and a lot of the camera work was noticeably shoddy. We meet a cast of colorful characters as most of them have ostensibly graduated from University with an array of liberal arts degrees whilst the neurotic Otis, Carlos Jacott, has obtained a degree in mechanical engineering. Grover, Josh Hamilton, is the character we spend the most time with as he struggles to find a sense of self after his girlfriend Jane, Olivia d'Abo, leaves for Prague. Surrounding him are Max, Chris Eigeman, a sarcastic intellectual who becomes involved with the fickle Miami, Parker Posey, who is dating the put upon Skippy, Jason Wiles, before entering into a committed relationship with fiery teenager Kate, Cara Buono. Causing conflict is bartender and longtime university student Chet, Eric Stoltz, who begins a humorous book club with Otis. Elliott Gould pops up as Grover's unhappily divorced father and Baumbach has a cameo as a crass student who engages in discussion about "Fucking" various animals. The dialogue is witty and intelligent whilst still being natural and not feeling overwritten as you expect from a Baumbach screenplay and broad comedic characters are given humanity in unexpected ways. The treatment of Grover's father was unexpectedly sincere as his unhappiness with his divorce is subtly dropped into his conversation with his son shortly after he inappropriately discusses the inefficiency of using condoms. Instead of feeling like a dramatic tonal shift this works well as we understand that Gould would prefer to simply be having sexual relations with his ex-wife instead of potentially untrustworthy other women. His pain is conveyed well by the always excellent Gould who is equally able as a dramatic and comedic actor and the novelty of seeing such a superstar show up pulls your attention back to the film. Quizzes between the central friendship group in the film feel fittingly juvenile in their execution whilst also concerning both Friday the 13th films and ancient philosophers. When Jane casually drops in that she read War and Peace whilst in Poland and Max ponders his ownership of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness we understand just how erudite this group is, they are intelligent but not necessarily emotionally mature. There are the requisite neuroses, these are mostly present in Otis who appears to be a hypochondriac, found in a dialogue based, Woody Allen-inspired film like this but the quirks in these characters don't stop them from feeling real and having genuine moments between them. The blankness of the central character, theoretically representative of his arrested development, can be frustrating at times and although the last moments of the film are extremely gratifying you often wonder why we don't spend more time with background players. The flashbacks to his early relationship with Jane are pleasant and their connection seemed genuine but really caring about him away from her was often difficult. Don't get me wrong I wasn't checking my watch in boredom or waiting for it to end but I found the relationship between Skippy and Miami far more compelling than that between Jane and Grover. I may have grown sick of them had they been used more though and it is true that a little bit of Parker Posey goes a long way, just look at You've Got Mail (1998). The technical execution of the film could also use some work with the camera work being either mundane or noticeably awkward. In particular the argument between Grover and Max in the bar is oddly shot as we see both men sitting in their chairs with Skippy between them side-on but half of the frame is a part of the bar that we really don't need to see. We don't really have any reactions captured and the poor shooting of the scene lessens the dramatic tension. The camera wobbles at several odd moments, seemingly deliberately, but it wasn't to show the perspective of one character or a hedonistic struggle it just seemed weird and unnecessary in a scene in which Grover speaks to his roommate. This is a film that is a very pleasant, brief watch and although it's not his best it's funny to see the genesis of Baumbach's filmmaking style. The writing and performances are great but questionable camera work will have to be dealt with if you are to fully enjoy the film. This is not Dazed and Confused (1993) or American Graffiti (1973) but if you lower your expectations it's a fun ride.