Babylon (2022)
53%RT Audience Score: 52%
Awards & Nominations: 3 Oscars
40 wins & 139 nominations
Babylon’s overwhelming muchness is exhausting, but much like the industry it honors, its well-acted, well-crafted glitz and glamour can often be an effective distraction.
Babylon has some entertaining moments and its ambition is impressive, but the movie’s chaotic and disjointed execution makes it difficult to really enjoy.
Production Company(ies)
Ensemble, Film/TV/Theater, Marc Platt Productions, Material Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
Filming Location(s)
Los Angeles, California, United States; Los Angeles Thirty Mile Zone, California, United States; Santa Clarita, California, United States
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
2022
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos, Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:3h 9m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 23, 2022 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 31, 2023
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
Babylon, R-rated, Comedy, Drama, 3h 9m, Damien Chazelle, Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, drug use, bloody violence, graphic nudity, pervasive language, strong & crude sexual content, Hollywood, rise and fall, unbridled decadence, depravity, box office, $15.2M, reviewed by David Stratton, Mark Kermode, Donald Clarke, Charlotte O’Sullivan, Linda Marric, Sandra Hall, Wesley Lovell, John McDonald, Mike Scott, Brian Susbielles, Gisela Savdie, directed by Damien Chazelle, written by Damien Chazelle, produced by Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton, starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Digital 2.39:1, Hollywood industry, ambition, excess, glitz, glamour, overwhelming muchness, chaotic, disjointed, difficult to enjoy, entertaining moments, impressive ambition, exhausting, well-acted, well-crafted
Worldwide gross: $63,351,455
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: $15,351,455
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend: $3,603,368
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $3,857,996
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,141
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $78,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $83,511,777
Production budget ranking: 494
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $44,971,092
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Margot Robbie – Nellie LaRoy
Diego Calva – Manny Torres
Jean Smart – Elinor St. John
Jovan Adepo – Sidney Palmer
Li Jun Li – Lady Fay Zhu
Director – Damien Chazelle
Producers – Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton
Writer – Damien Chazelle
Director(s)
Damien Chazelle
Writer(s)
Damien Chazelle
Producer(s)
Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 Oscars
40 wins & 139 nominations
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (337) | Top Critics (77) | Fresh (189) | Rotten (148)
Attempts to out-Fellini Fellini are regrettable and for much of its length Babylon is an unsubtle and indigestible mess so that despite all the talent involved and the fascinating subject matter, it must be seen as something of a disaster.
January 27, 2023 | Rating: 2.5/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
Subtle it is not. Nor is it good.
January 23, 2023 | Rating: 2/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Chazelle’s film commemorates the era’s hubris as it indulges in a bit of its own. This is how a world ends. Not with a whimper but a great deal of banging, baby. And vomiting. And snorting.
January 21, 2023 | Rating: 3.5/5
Donald Clarke
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Babylon is a disaster of biblical proportions, precisely because it had so much potential.
January 20, 2023 | Rating: 1/5
Charlotte O’Sullivan
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
Babylon is not so much a film of two halves, but a third of a brilliant movie and two hours of unmitigated mess and chaos.
January 20, 2023 | Rating: 3/5
Linda Marric
The Jewish Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
In the end, Chazelle does evoke the elegiac mood he’s after, finishing with a wistful meditation on the evanescence of fame and the fragility of those who fail to survive its demands.
January 20, 2023 | Rating: 3/5
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
Outside of these production moments, the film feels like it’s toiling away at revealing plot threads that aren’t nearly as engaging as they could be.
February 27, 2023 | Rating: 3/4
Wesley Lovell
Cinema Sight
Surely there came a point in this extravaganza when the director, the producers, the actors, and the people who did the catering, began to feel it had all gone wrong.
February 18, 2023
John McDonald
Australian Financial Review
Chazelle’s overstuffed homage to old Hollywood is often totally bonkers, but it’s also consistently mesmerizing. Running longer than 3 hours, it’s an undeniably self-indulgent exercise, but one that showcases magnificent craftsmanship at every level.
February 15, 2023 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune
It may have been a box office failure, but all three hours are utilized perfectly and never goes flat.
February 14, 2023
Brian Susbielles
InSession Film
Babylon is as chaotic and messy as what it tries to describe, but it’s wonderful, and manages to make us reflect on the implications of fame, with its moments of glory and decline. [Full review in Spanish]
February 13, 2023 | Rating: B+
Gisela Savdie
El Heraldo
The back half of the film, while it does have its highlights, demonstrates an inability for the movie to fully carry its own weight, and the multi-faceted narrative descends into tropes and some groan-worthy material before the end credits start to roll.
February 9, 2023 | Rating: 3/5
Eric Eisenberg
CinemaBlend…
Plot
Babylon follows the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
At 02:51:40, a billboard for Jackass Forever appears in the 1952 epilogue. It is slightly hidden behind the trees on the right of the frame.
Damien-Chazelle.jpg
