What I can say for certain is that when I left the theater after The Lovers, the world was bleaker, sadder and less compassionate than the world I had seen before.

| Dec 5, 2023

Writer-director Azazel Jacobs does a rather remarkable job of making these colorless and not particularly likable people interesting, but the film grows flaccid in the third act.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 16, 2021

Watching it, you might even want to step out on it and court a more interesting movie-hopefully something with a spark.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | May 18, 2021

Technical skill can only take a film so far if it doesn't have any particularly deep thoughts to back it up, and that's The Lovers in a nutshell.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 24, 2020

The Lovers uses familiar relationships and situations to show us something we may never have noticed about human behavior and the way we love each other. It's an extraordinary piece of filmmaking.

| May 7, 2020

It serves as tender comedic fodder that proves the greater biting point the film makes about infidelity and monogamy. The film eviscerates the Hollywood sheen of middle-aged marrieds...

| Feb 27, 2020

Is it a comedy? Then it needs to be funnier. Is it a relationship drama? Then I need to actually care about the characters. Is it that elusive animal, the successful dramedy? Then it needs to be both funnier and more poignant.

| Jan 15, 2020

The Lovers finds notes of the sublime in the dueling performances of Winger and Letts.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 9, 2019

It's worth seeing [Debra] Winger and [Tracey] Letts perform in this well crafted script. The way they move around each other in a kind of dance is fun to watch.

| Sep 11, 2019

It is all delicious fun, as well as a clever and unexpected view inside a marriage, one that upends all sorts of assumptions.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 1, 2019

Much like the worn-out marriage at its center, the film is so comfortable, it's hard to find its pulse.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 3, 2018

Mature drama about middle-aged couple; sex, cursing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 25, 2018

A peaceful and rare romantic comedy from breakout writer/director Azazel Jacobs that perfectly balances the two words in its genre.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 30, 2018

A touching, insightful, acerbic yet romantic comedy-drama.

| Original Score: 3.2/5 | Aug 27, 2018

Even while the setup of their story is unusual, the scenes from a marriage are realistic, and will probably hit home with anyone who has been married, however happily, for any length of time.

| Aug 23, 2018

"The Lovers" deems to explore a dysfunctional and worn-down marital relationship, but at the same time it also tries to create a different kind of love story that doesn't work within the story's narrative.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 21, 2018

[Director Azazel] Jacobs finds a sweet spot between indie angst and mainstream genre tropes, creating a messy vision of recycled romance that is often unclassifiable.

| Aug 21, 2018

Mary and Michael are such entitled, self-absorbed boomers that they possess little appeal besides the sex variety.

| Mar 7, 2018

Sometimes it's worth it to let two wonderful actors just do their thing, and on that level The Lovers truly delivers.

| Jan 31, 2018

The Lovers is both a tragedy and a satirical comedy, with an absolutely provocative kicker.

| Jan 8, 2018