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Computer Chess

Play trailer Poster for Computer Chess 2013 1h 31m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 81 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
In the early 1980s, young computer geniuses take part in a tournament to see who can create a program that will enable a computer to beat a human player at chess.
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Computer Chess

Computer Chess

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Critics Consensus

With its delightfully retro production design, Computer Chess is an inventive, intelligent, and humorous comedy that celebrates the eccentricity and uniqueness of its subject.

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Critics Reviews

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Bill Stamets Chicago Sun-Times May 13
2.5/4
A naturalist comic of inarticulate manners, writer-director Andrew Bujalski attempts the ensemble styles of Robert Altman and Christopher Guest to peer into a micro-culture in Computer Chess. Go to Full Review
Todd McCarthy The Hollywood Reporter May 13
Unfortunately, writer-director Andrew Bujalski’s latest is as deadly dull as the event it covers... Go to Full Review
Amy Taubin Film Comment Magazine 08/28/2019
Andrew Bujalski's Computer Chess is bracingly idiosyncratic-and close to perfect. Go to Full Review
Vadim Rizov Filmmaker Magazine 01/25/2023
Computer Chess is bounded only by the ambitious weirdness of its creator’s willingness to baffle, discombobulate, introduce unexpected new elements. Go to Full Review
Ray Pride Newcity 06/04/2022
10/10
<I>Computer Chess</I>' deep-ecology tech comedy is completely under control, never sacrificing an innate, lovely weirdness. [It] looks like it wasn’t even made, that it just happened, and sat, shedding magnetic flakes on a closet shelf for decades. Go to Full Review
Jeremy Polacek Hyperallergic 01/31/2020
While relations between actors are delightful, what Bujalski does to link man and computer is clever and singular -- slyly masterful. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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04/26/2021 I watched this movie soon after its release on streaming and was stunned by how awful it is. At that time it had something like a 98% fresh rating among critics, which I will never understand. This tedious exercise painstakingly recreates unpleasant VHS-level video of a bunch of unfunny, uninteresting characters in a sad motel. If only the MST3K crew could have had their way with it. It makes Down By Law look like Die Hard. See more 01/30/2021 So is it a time capsule, chronicling an era (the early 80s) when computers were on the brink of taking over the world? Or is it a trippy science fiction film about the first and only truly A.I. computer? Or is it making some obscure statement about sex and humanity vs technology? Or is it a quirky "mumblecore" comedy? Well, it seems to be all of those things and more; and it's a movie I enjoy more as time passes. In fact, this one of my favorite independent films. I watch it so often, I'm surprised my wife hasn't thrown my TV out the window. The story is told partially through a faux documentary format and partially via a traditional (though somehow simultaneously atypical) narrative. This throws some people for a loop, hence the complaints from some viewers who felt "taken out of it" when it switched in and out of documentary format. This did not bother me. Another of my favorite films, "The Grand" with Werner Herzog, does something similar and I thought it worked well in both cases. I liked the characters a lot and the setting (a cheap motel) was the perfect little "world" for them to spend a weekend. And I liked spending the weekend WITH them. There's no other movie quite like it. And sometimes it's enough to be shown something new. Talk about "fresh." This movie should be rated fresh because that's precisely what it is. See more 01/22/2019 Not very engaging, interesting or funny. See more harrison r @emailaddress 08/09/2018 Too plausible to be funny, and otherwise lacked anything else to make it interesting other than the fantastic production choices. See more andrei d 07/22/2018 It goes places and then it goes some more distant places See more 12/08/2016 By no means did I see this as 'hilarious' or even a comedy. I did however think it fascinating as an authentic, dug-up treasure of footage from over thirty years ago at a computer nerd convention. For that I was glad to watch it. Brilliant in many ways, therefore, but NOT hilarious! See more Read all reviews
Computer Chess

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Movie Info

Synopsis In the early 1980s, young computer geniuses take part in a tournament to see who can create a program that will enable a computer to beat a human player at chess.
Director
Andrew Bujalski
Producer
Morgan Coy, Scott Colquitt, Andrew Finnigan, Brooke Finnigan
Screenwriter
Andrew Bujalski
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Production Co
Computer Chess
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 17, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 6, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$100.6K
Runtime
1h 31m
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