Movie · 1990 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 39m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 7.5/10 (58.9K ratings)
Finally... A film about the downwardly mobile.
Overview
A radical student is adopted by a group of young New Yorkers, serves as a catalyst to alter his and their lives. Gathering in a Manhattan apartment, the group of friends meet to discuss social mobility, Fourier's socialism and play bridge in their cocoon of upper-class society - until they are joined by a man with a critical view of their way of life.
Ratings
Curator score: 7.5/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.82/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Metacritic: 75
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Whit Stillman
Production
Westerly Films, Allagash Films
Cast
Edward Clements, Chris Eigeman, Taylor Nichols, Carolyn Farina, Isabel Gillies, Dylan Hundley, Allison Parisi, Bryan Leder, Will Kempe, Ellia Thompson, Stephen Uys, Roger W. Kirby, Alice Connorton, Linda Gillies, John Lynch, Donal Lardner Ward, Thomas R. Voth, Caroline Bennett, Francis Creighton, Joel S. Schreiber
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, talky debut that turns upper-class Manhattan ennui into a witty social comedy with real melancholy underneath. Its pleasures are in the dialogue, the manners, and the way it skewers self-conscious privilege without losing sympathy for the characters’ confusion about adulthood.
Best for
fans of literate, dialogue-driven comedies
viewers interested in class, status, and social performance
people who like chamber-piece ensemble films
audiences who enjoy romantic irony and emotional restraint
Skip if
you want a plot-heavy movie with constant external action
you dislike privileged characters talking at length about ideas
you prefer broad, physical comedy or sentimental romance
you have little patience for mannered, highly verbal filmmaking
Overview
Metropolitan is a debut of remarkable confidence: crisp, arch, and observant about the rituals of youth pretending to be more settled than they are. Whit Stillman treats a group of Manhattan debutantes and their orbiting outsiders like a miniature society, where bridge games, parties, and arguments about politics or literature become tests of identity and belonging.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is the balance between satire and tenderness. The characters can be vain, defensive, and absurdly self-aware, but the film never reduces them to punchlines. Instead, it finds the ache beneath their talk: the fear of being ordinary, the longing for connection, and the uneasy realization that class and intellect do not protect anyone from loneliness.
Bottom line
It is especially rewarding for viewers who enjoy dialogue as performance and social comedy as character study. The movie’s cool surfaces, precise rhythms, and understated romantic tension give it a distinct flavor, one that feels both of its moment and oddly timeless.
Top Letterboxd reviews
russman (3★) · 2091 likes
Characters of this movie on letterboxd: "I don't watch movies. I prefer reading movie criticism."
alex (3.5★) · 1921 likes
him not having read any jane austen but still critiquing it is every guy i've ever met in college
travis (4.5★) · 1811 likes
Didn’t actually watch it, but I read this great review and now it’s one of my favorite movies
Logan Kenny (5★) · 1105 likes
i knew the ginger dude had never read a book when he started trashing jane austen to a girl who was being openly affectionate over one of her novels, he gave off such a fake intellectual vibe and i cackled so hard when he got his ass called out. anyway everyone in this movie is a dick, best argument against the spoiled aimless bourgeoise, stillman’s dialogue is hysterical and scathing etc etc. what strikes me is the lingering melancholy created… more i knew the ginger dude had never read a book when he started trashing jane austen to a girl who was being openly affectionate over one of her novels, he gave off such a fake intellectual vibe and i cackled so hard when he got his ass called out. anyway everyone in this movie is a dick, best argument against the spoiled aimless bourgeoise, stillman’s dialogue is hysterical and scathing etc etc. what strikes me is the lingering melancholy created… more