Andrew Sarris

“….Amid all the hollow rehetoric and false posturing of so many of the films at the Venice Festival, the creative mixture of shrewdness, vulnerability, and sensuality that went into the Sarandon and Lancaster performances, and into the zany supporting roles of Michel Piccoli … and Kate Reid …, camae as a breath of fresh air. With the help of Michel Legrand’s music, the film eventually dances its way across the Boardwalk of Atlantic City through the interlocking destinies of characters caught in the spell of Monopoly money fluttering in and out of their lives. I would never have expected it of Malle and Guare, but there it is: Atlantic City is a cinematic poem transported with classical grace through modernistic sensibilities…. I would prefer to let it sneak up upon you unawares, but the odds are you would probably never go to see this marginal offshore production with its offbeat cast. There is not enough built-in star-power and modishly misanthropic hooplah built into the project. It is a movie of middle-range talents in top form, like Carny and The Competition and Return of the Secaucus Seven, and these kinds of movies need all the help that conscientious reviewers can give them.

“…. [T]he movie’s cynicism and street-smarts never sour the romance elements in the lead characterizations….”

Andrew Sarris
Village Voice, April 1-7, 1981

"Susan Sarandon is grossly underrated. She is the heart and guts of Atlantic City—Burt Lancaster is just the frosting on the cake. But it is too much to expect that the Academy can ever get beyond the obvious.”

Sarris, March 9, 1982