Ping Pong Summer 2014

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Michael Tully's mild tribute to the 1980s - the decade that just won't go away. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: A friendly puppy of a movie. It's clumsy and bumbling but disarmingly sweet in spirit. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: [Tully achieves] a winning innocence of spirit in which performances and production design are all perfectly synched to his low-key comic vision. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: A fun-but-slight coming-of-age story about an awkward Maryland teenager who becomes, well, not a man exactly, but a slightly more comfortable teenager, on a family vacation during the magical summer of 1985. Read more

Calum Marsh, Film.com: Ninety minutes of vapid 80s fetishism packaged to resemble a proper feature film, a memory-baiting time-sink for twenty-somethings eager to mainline nostalgia at length. Read more

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: Rose-tinted as the film's perspective may be, Ping Pong Summer is still a lingering, entertaining glance back at an era that Americans just can't seem to get enough of, whether in music or movies. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: A ho-hum memory piece that could have used a bit more objectivity, not to mention depth and energy. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Tully seems filled with yearning for the happy side to the story and dwells fleetingly on his hero's struggles and humiliations; neither the problems nor their resolutions have any weight. Read more

Tomas Hachard, NPR: A sometimes-intriguing experiment in upended expectations, though not a particularly successful one. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This sweet, offhanded but lovingly observed remembrance is a real kick. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: This gentle comedy, while entirely unmemorable, releases a genuine warmth that deflects harsh judgment. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The stakes are low throughout the film - even the bullies are mostly bluster - making the big finish an anticlimax. Read more

Carla Sosenko, Time Out: There are retro touches that children of the '80s will smile at (remember smelling the liner notes of cassettes?). But ultimately, those are too few and far between. Read more

Katherine Vu, Village Voice: It plays like a cherished memory, rosy and warm, rebuilt in miniature with such affection and detail it's hard not to be moved by its sincerity. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's so dedicated to the odd textures of its world that it becomes something else - personal, abstract, and strangely honest. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "Ping Pong Summer" may not be an instant classic, but it knows its time and place. There's a humble honor in that. Read more