Kat Halstead Common Sense Media Jul 28, 2026 3/5

Fans of creature features and those who remember the times of local Saturday matinees will find plenty of nostalgic value in this underrated satire.

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Mark Salisbury Empire Magazine Feb 11, 2026 3/5

A loving tribute to the era of Saturday afternoon cinema - at its best when Good man is on screen.

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Sara Michelle Fetters MovieFreak.com Feb 24, 2023 4/4

Love. Laugh. Shriek. Cry. Make every second count. Most of all, live. The life lessons Dante was imparting 30 years ago are as vital now as they ever were then, making Matinee a modern classic ripe for rediscovery.

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Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Jan 30, 2023 3/5

"Matinee" is a fun time. But when you couple such a resolutely uncommercial idea with a filmmaker whose résumé illustrated clear disinterest in compromising his idiosyncratic paranoia, you might wish the film leaned a little harder into its nuclear wind.

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Diane Carson KDHX (St. Louis) Jan 19, 2023

Throughout Matinee, director Dante delivers this retro 60s world in a thoroughly entertaining, brisk 99 minutes.

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Peter Stack San Francisco Chronicle Jan 11, 2023 3/4

John Goodman is delightful in this sweetly amusing '60s-era comedy... Despite some incoherence in the plot, the film is genuinely charming and generous with its humor.

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Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Sep 21, 2022 4/4

When Woolsey loses himself in one of his many speeches about the power of movies, the importance of escape, and the joy it brings him to realize these notions for his audience, we sense this is exactly how Dante feels, and that joy is instantly catching.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Jun 2, 2022 3/4

The glory of Dante’s comedy in this movie and others–as aided and abetted by his usual production team, producer Michael Finnell, cinematographer John Hora, and screenwriter Charlie Haas–is that it suggests poetic parallels without insisting on them.

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Sep 18, 2021 3.5/4

One of director Joe Dante's finest achievements.

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Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Sep 14, 2020 4/10

Executed without passion, with faulty pacing, and predicaments that are too dull even for a family-friendly movie.

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Sergio Benítez Espinof Jul 31, 2019

A tremendously sympathetic film capable of transcending the mere character of entertainment to become the most emblematic celluloid example of Joe Dante's work. [Full Review in Spanish]

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Sean Mulvihill FanboyNation.com Oct 30, 2018 4/5

Matinee is such an earnest film lacking in cynicism about the gimmickry of old that its warmth is infectious.

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Gary Shannon The Young Folks Aug 3, 2018 9/10

[Dante's] delirium is both hilariously absurd and terrifyingly convincing.

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Austin Trunick Under the Radar Mar 6, 2018

Released in 1993, Matinee - a loving tribute to the z-grade, drive-in monster pics of the '50s and '60s, as viewed nostalgically through the eyes of children - isn't the sort of film you'd see come out of a major studio that often.

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Christopher Machell CineVue Jan 16, 2017 4/5

Something of a forgotten gem, 1993's Matinee sits between Gremlins and Toy Soldiers in director Joe Dante's oeuvre.

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Jamie Dunn The Skinny Sep 5, 2016 5/5

This celebration of art over war is the closest thing Gremlins director Joe Dante has to a lost masterpiece.

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Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed Oct 14, 2013

A wonderful message about the power of the horror director, and what treasures they can bestow on their audiences.

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Sep 7, 2011 B+

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Oct 6, 2009 A-

Uproarious comedy that film buffs should love.

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Jake Euker F5 (Wichita, KS) Feb 18, 2007 3/5

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