--- title: "Dazed and Confused: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/dazed-and-confused/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/dazed-and-confused" critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 17 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Dazed and Confused (1993): what the critics said Critics' score 76 from 17 reviews: 16 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics like this, and for much the same reason: Linklater sets one day in Texas in 1976 and declines to hang a plot on it. The reviews praise the loose handling of a large ensemble, the close attention to period detail and the classic-rock soundtrack, and a tone several describe as anti-nostalgic yet warm. The film’s refusal to turn its teenagers’ cruising, parties and hazing into a lesson is taken as the point rather than a fault. A few reviews note a sombre undertone about what comes after school. The spread is narrow. Almost every review lands somewhere between good and exceptional, with the more recent pieces the warmest. The only dissent is Variety, writing from a festival screening in 1992, which finds the formlessness suited Slacker better and wants more narrative shape at this scale. Otherwise the reservations are mild: a sense in some of the 1993 notices that the film is pleasant rather than substantial. ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Rating 4/4. 20 March 2023. The critic hails Linklater’s 1993 coming-of-age comedy as an unimpeachable American masterpiece that revels in the anarchic, consequence-free hedonism of its Texas teens without moralizing or conventional plotting. They single out the fluid, Altman-like orchestration of the large ensemble and the film’s obsessive, democratic attention to period details and character interactions. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/dazed-and-confused-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-richard-linklater/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 September 2023. The critic praises the film's joyously evocative and brilliantly controlled portrayal of Texan high-schoolers in 1976, highlighting its masterly, effortless style and refusal of conventional dramatic beats. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/15/dazed-and-confused-review-richard-linklater) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 26 January 2012. Calls it a sweet, smoky haze of a movie that captures painful rites of passage with episodic looseness and vivid details. Singles out the bittersweet tone and freedom of the characters' night of roaming. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/dazed-and-confused-1798229503) ## Little White Lies — Stephen Puddicombe Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 25 September 2018. Linklater’s film is the ultimate endorsement of living in the moment, suspended in the present over one day in 1976. It subtly explores how time shapes the characters’ behaviour through their focus on immediate plans and parties rather than the future. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/dazed-and-confused-at-25-richard-linklater) ## Los Angeles Times — Peter Rainer Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 24 September 1993. Praises Linklater for capturing the dazed and confused reality of high school without turning it into a meaningful coming-of-age story. Singles out the authentic characters and the mid-70s setting with its soundtrack and tribal rituals. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-24-ca-38422-story.html) ## The Independent — Sheila Johnston Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 September 1994. Linklater's affectionate comedy makes adolescence fun again, savouring the silliness of youth in an ensemble drama set on the last day of school in 1976 without preaching. It drifts euphorically through aimless cruising, parties and stimulants with a sceptical yet celebratory eye and a sombre undertone about the future. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-new-releases-the-best-daze-of-their-lives-sheila-johnston-on-teen-pics-thrill-pics-and-peepingtom-pics-plus-the-alain-resnais-alan-ayckbourn-double-act-1449114.html) ## The Telegraph Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 September 2023. The piece celebrates the film as an anti-nostalgic yet warmly seductive portrait of 1970s high-school life, focusing on first kisses, beers and fights. It notes how the movie found a cult audience despite initial commercial struggles and highlights its ensemble cast including early roles for Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/dazed-and-confused-matthew-mcconaughey-ben-affleck/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 3/4. 24 September 1993. The critic finds it a good film that realistically depicts the aimless, often disappointing high school experience without imposing a plot. Praises the unblinking anthropological approach to teenage rituals and characters. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dazed-and-confused-1993) ## Empire — Steve Beard Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2011. Linklater's second feature is a funkier, more focused and much funnier mosaic of 1970s teen life than Slacker, scrupulously avoiding sentimentality while archiving a whole culture of aimlessness and irony. It is largely successful as a smart, retro anti-nostalgia piece that marks 1976 as the start of slacker culture. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dazed-confused-review/) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 27 September 1993. The film conjures affection for the silly, dope-fogged 1976 era through its meandering ensemble of teens, favoring open-air charity and light comedy over melodrama. Linklater hosts rather than directs, letting the characters' throwaway gestures and longing create a fresh, hip momentum. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/10/04/american-high) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 24 September 1993. Linklater's film captures the look, feel and sound of a single day in 1976 Texas high school life with playful, unstructured energy. It finds tenderness in the small encounters among its ensemble of characters navigating the end of the school year. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/24/movies/reviews-film-nervously-contemplating-life-after-high-school.html) ## The Times — Ed Potton Rating ★★★★☆. 16 February 2018. The critic describes Linklater's vision of American high school as hip, messy and wreathed in weed smoke, noting the killer soundtrack and ensemble of future stars in this freewheeling ensemble piece. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/dazed-and-confused-1993-mn6rkd8vx) ## Time Out — TCh Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The film follows Texas high-schoolers on the last day of school in 1976 as seniors plan parties and freshmen endure hazing rituals. Linklater's freewheeling, ensemble-driven approach captures quirky counter-cultural intelligence and deadpan pop irony without nostalgia or contrivance. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/dazed-and-confused) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1992. Festival review. Linklater's follow-up to Slacker depicts a scary yet giddily amusing teenage wasteland in 1976 Austin through listless last-day-of-school antics and debauchery. One-liners and gags abound but the formlessness works less well in this larger-budget package that needs more narrative shape. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1992/film/reviews/dazed-and-confused-2-1200431353/) ## Consequence Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 12 September 2023. Dazed and Confused popularized a fresh, realistic take on the coming-of-age genre by emphasizing the immediacy of the moment over big statements or dramatic plots. It explores what it felt like to be alive experientially as a teen, influencing many later films and shows. [Read the review](https://consequence.net/2023/09/dazed-and-confused-why-its-good/) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 15 August 2020. The critic calls it an ensemble triumph that captures the loose, contradictory vibe of the last day of school in 1976 Texas with warmth and authenticity, despite (or because of) its lack of big dramatic incidents. She singles out the perfectly timed classic-rock soundtrack and the immersive period details for praise. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/dazed-and-confused-1993-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) ## Paste — Brent McKnight Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 23 October 2014. Linklater's follow-up to Slacker translates its themes into a more mainstream, accessible form focused on the last day of high school in 1976. The film captures the aimless pursuit of parties and belonging while forming a coherent narrative reminiscent of an updated American Graffiti. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/richard-linklater/the-rick-trospective-dazed-and-confused) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/dazed-and-confused.md