Babylon: Early reactions to Damien Chazelle’s decadent look at Old Hollywood are extremely mixed

One of my most anticipated films of the year, Babylon, is getting shredded across social media. Damien Chazelle‘s latest feature doesn’t hit theaters until December 23, but early reactions to the film are pouring in. They’re mixed more vigorously than a Bourbon Old Fashioned prepared by Fritz at Reese’s 1890 in Long Island, New York, and we’re here to collect some of the most extreme comments.

According to the official synopsis for Babylon, the film is “an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, Babylon traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.”

Babylon stars Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Tobey Maguire, and more, delighting in extreme debauchery during Hollywood’s transition from silent films to talkies in the 1920s. The early reactions to Babylon range from ultra-positive to disturbingly negative, with some calling the movie a “hot mess” of drug-addled mayhem. Several reviewers note Robbie and Calva’s outstanding performances, while others say Babylon is tonally erratic.

#Babylon feels like if someone read Damien Chazelle the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and then he said, "hold my beer!"
High octane, cocaine-inducing trip. First half is great. Likely the internet's new favorite movie of all-time. Margot Robbie and Justin Hurwitz are your stars. pic.twitter.com/aM3rru1so0

— Clayton Davis – Stand with ?? (@ByClaytonDavis) November 15, 2022

BABYLON what a movie! A love letter to cinema. Damien Chazelle’s best film! I loved it! What a wild fun time at the movies! Margot Robbie gives a high octane performance that took my breath away! Bravo! #BabylonMovie #babylon #MargotRobbie

— Josh Blumenkranz (@JoshBlumenkranz) November 15, 2022

#Babylon/#BabylonMovie is a daring Hollywood epic that utterly shocks the senses. Margot Robbie and Diego Calva give huge performances. Damien Chazelle incorporates his signature musicality and movement throughout. Justin Hurwitz’s score is one hell of a wall of sound. pic.twitter.com/RTlL9WhaKa

— Jeff Nelson (@SirJeffNelson) November 15, 2022

Babylon is an ambitious mess of a film. I don’t even know where to begin with this one but the tone is all over the place. Margot Robbie tries but the script fails her. A love letter to cinema that made me hate cinema. #BabylonMovie pic.twitter.com/BnKQiOz2Zd

— Scott Menzel (@ScottDMenzel) November 15, 2022

Chazelle’s BABYLON is DAY OF THE LOCUST crossed with WOLF OF WALL STREET and SINGIN IN THE RAIN with BOOGIE NIGHTS as its structural template (with Tobey Maguire in the Alfred Molina position!). In other words, I adored all 180-plus minutes of it.

— Jim Hemphill (@JimmyHemphill) November 15, 2022

#Babylon is definitely a wild ride! But it's also an interesting & crazy journey to revisit the history of Hollywood & Cinema . Love the music and star-packed casts. #MargotRobbie really gives it all. She is sensational. Li Jun Li steals the show every time she is on screen. pic.twitter.com/xt6TUqE6sV

— Maggie Ma (@MaggieMa_LA) November 15, 2022

BABYLON: Truly monstrous in its thudding insistence on shoving the viewer’s face in the muck and claiming it’s something novel or moving; Chazelle might be the most confident director in Hollywood today, of course he’s also got some of the worst instincts out there.

— Ryan Swen/孫天行/Sun Tianxing (@swen_ryan) November 15, 2022

Damien Chazelle wanted to make a film set during the druggy, decadent transition from silents to sound. He created characters (played by Diego Calvo, Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt) to follow that trajectory. Shot 180 pages of script at about a minute per page. Babylon is great fun.

— Anne Thompson (@akstanwyck) November 15, 2022

I have some really — really — bad news to share with you, #Babylon’s a flaming hot mess, a tonal disaster, easily Damien Chazelle’s worst film & one of the worst films of 2022 ?

— Erick MMT Weber (@ErickWeber) November 15, 2022

#Babylon has some incredibly strong sequences — especially the ones focused on Margot Robbie’s character — but overall lacked focus & couldn’t support so many key characters. Lots of interesting ideas in there but the manic visuals & story structure work for some and not others. pic.twitter.com/ZF6SJLeoXc

— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) November 15, 2022

While some viewers don’t appreciate Chazelle’s approach to depicting a hopped-up Hollywood, others appear to embrace the chaos. Many reviewers also praise Babylon‘s elaborate sets and costume design. Still, strong adverse reactions to the movie could be linked to Brad Pitt, who’s under fire for ongoing allegations of child abuse by Angelina Jolie.

General audiences will need to wait until December 23 to form an opinion, which is the best way to determine if Babylon appeals to you. I’m excited to see Babylon, regardless of adverse reactions to the film, though I’ll wait until it’s on Blu-ray to make my way to the party.

What do you think of the early reactions to Babylon? Are these reviews genuine, or have some reviewers sniffed one too many lines before bringing their gut reactions to social media? A film that feels like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in Old Hollywood sounds like a rip-roaring good time, even if the presentation can appear manic and off its rocker at the best of times. Bring it on, I say.