Big NightMovie Reviews

Gifts + Promos

Fandango Gift Card

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Avengers Gift Cards

Superhero fans! Don’t miss out on these Limited Edition Avengers gift cards!

Need Help?
Go
Avg. Critic Score: 80 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The real feast is in the mix of characters, each so finely and unschmaltzily delineated in a script so confident and controlled that even the most passing of participants comes alive. Read full review

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    By the end of the movie, we have been through an emotional and a sensual wringer, in a film of great wisdom and delight. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    A robustly imaginative sleeper Read full review

  • 80
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    This unlikely collaboration between actors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott is extremely well directed, making for a smartly made, delightfully acted period piece whose sensibility neatly straddles art films and the mainstream. Read full review

  • 80
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    It's the moviegoing equivalent of great eating. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    The film is loaded with brotherly affection and with warm, funny and poignant evocations of a gentler time.[20 September 1996, p.C12] Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    As delicately and deliciously prepared as the dishes it features, Big Night is a lyric to the love of food, family and persuasive acting. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Stack

    Both a delightful story and a great food movie that ranks with "Like Water for Chocolate'' or "Babette's Feast.'' Read full review

  • 70
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    A feast of a film done on a low budget with a menu featuring top-grade acting, writing and direction. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    Big Night, a scrumptious tale of great food and grand passions, belongs on the menu with such mouth-watering movie fare as "Babette's Feast" and "Like Water for Chocolate." Read full review

View more reviews for Big Night on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Delicious adult fare sure to leave you hungry.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Secondo cheats on his girlfriend and lies to his brother. Pascal curses all the time (but it's clearly part of his schmoozing, insincere personality), lies, and manipulates. Many characters drink, and Phyllis drinks to the point of vomiting. Primo and Secondo fight with each other. Some strong language.
  • Families can talk about how the brothers take care of each other and also pursue their own dreams. Which brother do you most identify with and how would you have handled a similar situation? Families can also talk about their own family history of moving to the U.S. How did the family deal with the struggle between assimilating (as Segundi does) and keeping traditional values (like Primo)?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Not an issue
  • sex false3 Sex: Characters are shown in bed together, Secondo cheats on his girlfriend.
  • language false3 Language: Some strong language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters drink and smoke.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Big Night Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook