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Synecdoche, New York

Play trailer Poster for Synecdoche, New York R 2008 2h 4m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
69% Tomatometer 193 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Life is looking pretty bleak for theater director Caden Cotard. His wife and daughter have left him, his therapist is more interested in plugging her new book than helping him with his problems, and a strange disease is causing his body to shut down. Caden leaves his home in Schenectady, N.Y., and heads to New York City, where he gathers a cast of actors and tells them to live their lives within the constructs of a mock-up of the city.
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Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York

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Critics Consensus

Charlie Kaufman's ambitious directorial debut occasionally strains to connect, but ultimately provides fascinating insight into a writer's mind.

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Critics Reviews

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Tim Robey Daily Telegraph (UK) 05/17/2009
5/5
Kaufman, who once dazzled us with his japester's invention, uses those same tools to do something else here. He leaves us reeling. Go to Full Review
Cosmo Landesman The Times (UK) 05/17/2009
3/5
This is a classic Kaufmanesque work: bold, bizarre and utterly baffling. Go to Full Review
Jonathan Romney Independent (UK) 05/17/2009
Synecdoche, New York finally feels bitter, hollow and adolescent: like a gargantuan music video conceived for an emo band with a penchant for Pirandello. Go to Full Review
Fico Cangiano CineXpress Podcast 03/28/2025
4.5/5
A melancholic, absurd exploration of obsession, loneliness, ego and the extremes of the creative process. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review 09/05/2023
4/4
Synecdoche, New York aches with sentiments on a life (and indeed all life) not fully lived and overly focused on analysis and reflection, offering rich commentary on remorse and alienation. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 02/15/2023
3/4
This takes the notion of life as merely one sprawling play and literalizes it. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Alejandro E @Alex970 1d Charlie Kaufman’s experiment as a screenwriter and director was a resounding success. Life itself, portrayed as a play, has a certain quality that keeps the viewer spellbound, despite the slow pace – not to mention P. Seymour Hoffman in the lead role. Not seeing it would be almost a sin. See more F P @Effeppi Apr 15 One of the saddest and existentialist yet entertaining movies I've ever seen, is certainly confusing, but I don't see it as a negative feature See more Joe N. @JoeNahme Jan 17 Great but the first two acts are dramatically slow. The plot is depressing and the characters are not much to root for , or have empathy, nothing to latch onto psychologically. The latter 2nd act picks up, and the 3rd act is amazing. Plot, metaphor, social commentary, monologues, scenes full of dramatic irony. I love Charlie Kaufman’s work. I was not looking or expecting a feel good story. I think 4 stars would confuse complexity for intentional. I just felt like the dramatic tension in the first act was weak. Too much time with setup. I would watch this again in like 15 years. It’s a lot, emotionally. It’s rather bleak, and cynical but without the redemption of humor. 3/5 See more Faiz D @RT95588871 May 13 Phenomenal. The film is about the fact that life is confusing. And it's also meaningless in the sense that we have no intrinsic purpose. We have to create our own. How do we know? that we're making the right choice? Also, we don't really know anyone in our lives. When we think we're interacting with someone else, we're really interacting with our idea of who that person is (like an actor playing a character, hence the whole 'play' metaphor in the film). There are no answers. We're just here. See more thiago s @Thiagostone 03/14/2025 Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, o elenco é mais ou menos e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, phillip seymour Hoffman fez uma atuação boa, mas isso não melhorou o filme e nem alavancou para deixar o filme bom, o filme também não tem cenas relevantes que possam fazer o filme ser bom, com tudo isso, eu não recomendo esse filme, mas o phillip seymour fez o filme não ser ruim, mas o filme é fraco. See more Fer S @RT07531533 02/23/2025 It is of course a well achieved movie, but it is depressing, confusing, tedious and boring. I think the idea is interesting, but it could only appeal to someone who has not figured out a few things about life and consciousness yet. I believe it tries to represent the mystery of life and finding one's purpose, but it is just the life of anyone who is under the imaginary laws of modern society. See more Read all reviews
Synecdoche, New York

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Life is looking pretty bleak for theater director Caden Cotard. His wife and daughter have left him, his therapist is more interested in plugging her new book than helping him with his problems, and a strange disease is causing his body to shut down. Caden leaves his home in Schenectady, N.Y., and heads to New York City, where he gathers a cast of actors and tells them to live their lives within the constructs of a mock-up of the city.
Director
Charlie Kaufman
Producer
Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel
Screenwriter
Charlie Kaufman
Distributor
Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Projective Testing Service, Likely Story
Rating
R (Some Sexual Content/Nudity|Language)
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 24, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 24, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA)
$3.1M
Runtime
2h 4m