"Like a bad improvisation exercise, the superficially written characters ramble on tediously about their lives, loves and the art they're struggling to create." -- Ed Scheid, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE   "This is a very ambitious project for a fairly inexperienced filmmaker, but good actors, good poetry and good music help sustain it." -- Robert Roten, LARAMIE MOVIE SCOPE   "This insufferable movie is meant to make you think about existential suffering. Instead, it'll only put you to sleep." -- Michael Phillips, CITYSEARCH   "'Linklater fans, or pretentious types who want to appear avant-garde will suck up to this project...'" -- John A. Nesbit, CULTUREDOSE.NET   "This thing is virtually unwatchable." -- Paul Matwychuk, VUE WEEKLY (EDMONTON, CANADA)   "With virtually no interesting elements for an audience to focus on, Chelsea Walls is a triple-espresso endurance challenge." -- Andy Klein, NEW TIMES   "A complete waste of time." -- Edward Havens, FILMJERK.COM   "An intellectually stimulating structural experiment." -- Rachel Gordon, FILMCRITIC.COM   "As is most commonly case with projects such noble and lofty ambitions, the film is less poetic than simply pretentious." -- Michael Dequina, MR. BROWN'S MOVIES   "There is a certain sense of experimentation and improvisation to this film that may not always work, but it is nevertheless compelling." -- Larry Carroll, COUNTINGDOWN.COM

Hot Pick   "The cinematic equivalent of patronizing a bar favored by pretentious, untalented artistes who enjoy moaning about their cruel fate." -- Philip Wuntch, DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Cream of the Crop ROTTEN 33% Avg. Rating: 4.3/10   "The cinematic equivalent of patronizing a bar favored by pretentious, untalented artistes who enjoy moaning about their cruel fate." -- Philip Wuntch, DALLAS MORNING NEWS   "Hawke draws out the best from his large cast in beautifully articulated portrayals that are subtle and so expressive they can sustain the poetic flights in Burdette's dialogue." -- Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES   "Like the Chelsea's denizens ... Burdette's collage-form scenario tends to over-romanticize the spiritual desolation of the struggling artiste." -- Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY   "The ethos of the Chelsea Hotel may shape Hawke's artistic aspirations, but he hasn't yet coordinated his own DV poetry with the Beat he hears in his soul." -- Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY   "I liked this film a lot..." -- Richard Roeper, EBERT & ROEPER   "Hawke's actors are a talented troupe, and even when things get self-indulgent and fuzzy-headed (and boy, do they!), interesting stuff is going on." -- Steven Rea, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER   "I'm not suggesting that you actually see it, unless you're the kind of person who has seen every Wim Wenders film of the '70s." -- Andrew O'Hehir, SALON.COM   "Were Dylan Thomas alive to witness first-time director Ethan Hawke's strained Chelsea Walls, he might have been tempted to change his landmark poem to, 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Theatre.'" -- Erin Meister, BOSTON GLOBE   "Hampered -- no, paralyzed -- by a self-indulgent script ... that aims for poetry and ends up sounding like satire." -- Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE   "Hawke achieves something special but less than industry-shaking." -- David Hunter, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ( More... )

  "Hawke’s film, a boring, pretentious waste of nearly two hours, doesn’t tell you anything except that the Chelsea Hotel today is populated by whiny, pathetic, starving and untalented artistes."
-- Jeffrey Bruner, DES MOINES REGISTER