“Robert Pattinson … continues to evolve as a true performer” Â Awards Circuit
“Supporting turns from an excellent Robert Pattinson” Culture Fix
“Robert Pattinson … no longer needs to prove his authenticity as a proper actor” Movie City News
Update:Â I will highlight the recently added reviews in bolded blue.
I put together a post for reviews when Maps screened at Cannes.  I’m only going to include excerpts that mention Rob’s performance or his character Jerome. Some reviews skip over Rob completely and although they may give Maps the big thumbs up, that’s not what this review roundup is about so I haven’t included them. I’ve now also included foreign reviews that are easily translated with either Google or Bing. The links for foreign reviews that aren’t easily translated will be included in “Lost in Translation” at the end. Anyway, here’s some really great words about Rob’s performance in Maps to the Stars (and a few not so good below *blowsraspberry*). I’ll post a link for this under the Films page for Maps for ease if you want to go back and read.  This post will be updated on occasions and I’ll tweet when that happens.
YING
“Of course, none of these characters are what they seem, save Pattinson’s Jerome, who is presented as something of a rube as the film progresses. He is constantly used by other characters in their power games and he fuels the engine of Hollywood by aspiring to its false dreams. … Maps to the Stars may shock and revolt some viewers through its characters’ despicable behaviours, or it may turn off some viewers due to Cronenberg’s detached perspective, but its power lingers in the viewer’s mind long after its credits roll. It shows that Hollywood is a monstrous machine, but that it’s a human machine, one as equally worthy of pity as disgust.” (Score: 8.5 out of 10)
“… while Robert Pattinson uses his otherworldly charisma to good effect (he’s less chilly than he was in Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, but no less effective).”
“Robert Pattinson is fine in a role that probably could have been bigger, or at least framed around being an outsider of sorts, the only vaguely redeemable character in the film, but one who still gets corrupted.”
“The performances are really good.”
“… Robert Pattinson plays his part with minimal effort but great conviction. Pattinson certainly has come a long way since his Twilight Saga days. Cosmopolis (2012) was the break that he needed and since then he has never looked back (he has been working quite hard to change his image and already has a decent résumé to show for his efforts… while he impressed everybody with a brilliant performance in David Michôd’s The Rover, he’s just finished shooting for Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert wherein he will be seen essaying the role of T.E. Lawrence).”
“But the money here is in the performances. … In a sly joke, Robert Pattinson, who spent most of Cosmopolis in the back of a limo, plays a limo driver.”
Allmänstädesbloggen [Erik Otterberg] (Swedish)
“General good performances, though.”
Gives a score of 9 for acting.
“The script-writing and dreaming of great acting chauffeur Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson) is yet long not arrived in the circle of the rich and famous.”
“The corresponding performances capture the different shades of disturbed and disquieting with aplomb …” (Rating:Â 4 out of 5)
At the Movies (Margaret Pomeranz/David Stratton)
“I found that they might not be particularly likable characters but they’re wonderfully drawn and wonderfully acted characters.”  and ““An abrasive, funny, smartly acted meditation on life in contemporary Hollywood.†(Score: Margaret 3.5 stars / David 4 stars)
“… she meets Jerome (Pattinson, correctly blank) a limo driver/aspiring actor, just one more Hollywood archetype in the margins of the dream factory.”
“… whilst Robert Pattinson continues a run of escape-from-the-shadow-of-Twilight features, although he was far better utilised in The Rover. ”
Awards Circuit (New York Film Festival)
“With no short of brilliance, the entire cast ignites some of their finest and most compelling works of their careers. … Robert Pattinson leaves all his “Twilight†days behind him and continues to evolve as a true performer.  Cronenberg obviously knows what the heartthrob is capable of as he continues to use him frequently.” (Score: 3.5 out of 4).
“Robert Pattinson has a very small part, but gets a love scene, of course, to satisfy his fans. Pattinson and Cronenberg are developing a nice collaboration, however, and here’s to hoping we get to see more from the two of them.”
“… and a potential love interest in the form of Robert Pattinson, a limo driver with aspirations of becoming an actor/screenwriter/whatever (this is Hollywood, after all.)”
“Driven into town by actor / chauffeur Jereme Fontana (Robert Pattinson), the mysteriously scarred Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) will soon challenge everyone’s eggshell fragility.
As with Cronenberg’s last film, Cosmopolis (2012), Pattinson is often car-bound, albeit as the driver this time. … With none of the characters happy at work, Cronenberg turns the screw on all of them at home in a brazenly unhinged, classy psychological horror thriller.”
“… Jerome (Robert Pattinson in a nod to Cronenberg’s previous film COSMOPOLIS) is an actor/writer trying to make it in the City of Angels, but with little luck.”
“The one character that’s property [sic] overshadowed is a struggling actor/limo driver played by Robert Pattinson, but him being an obvious surrogate for the filmmakers shepherding us on this gloomy journey is too obvious to allow identification.”
Blogbusters [Zahra Rowghani] (German)
“Powerful cast, who carries the movie with much elegance.“
“There’s one character who isn’t completely burdened with contempt, a limo driver called Jerome (Robert Pattinson) who hopes to become a working actor, bonding with Agatha in a relationship that teases a romantic direction.”
“and 2012’s utterly barking Cosmopolis at times played like a vampire film, with Robert Pattison (inspired casting there) cruising Manhattan in the sealed world of his limousine. With this in mind, even though I had seen Maps To The Stars described as a ‘comedy’ I was willing to bet we weren’t going to be settling in for The Hangover Part 4. … usually known for eliciting icy, disconnected performances from his actors, the director here has a dream ensemble cast at his disposal … The acting tour-de-force is bolstered by a sharp script by Bruce Wagner, who adapts from his own original novel.”
“Because every cast member surrenders to this doomed voyage with almost joyous abandon — … — the audience is constantly being entertained. It’s only later, after the credits roll, that we’re forced to ask ourselves at what price did that distraction come, and whether we’re culpable participants in the human slaughterhouse called celebrity.”
“This is a wonderfully shot, great-looking movie filled with excellent performances at the service of a story designed to suggest depth where none exists.”
“Robert Pattinson acts as a cab driver and although it’s not that hard to do manages to nail the whole mysterious lover role on the head.”
“Maps to the Stars features a stellar ensemble of stars playing an ensemble of fictional of stars …”
“And then there is Jerome (Robert Pattinson), the limo driver hired by Agatha who reveals himself to be an aspiring actor and screenwriter. Just like all the other limo drivers, waiters, bus boys, valets, window cleaners and truckers in Los Angeles, he doesn’t see himself as a limo driver, he sees himself as an artist who drives a limo just to make ends meet. On the surface, he is the least neurotic or crazy of all the people in this story, but then again he also is in denial of who he is and his potential in this town, and this takes a certain level of self delusion. The closest he can get to stardom is having sex with an actress in his limo, and really he should be happy to have even that much.”
“Pattinson plays a Hollywood limo driver who picks up Wasikowska when she arrives from Florida and then becomes involved with her. His chauffeur character is a naive would-be writer and would-be actor: the inside joke is that Cronenberg’s previous film, a spot-on adaptation of Don DiLillo’s Cosmopolis, starred Pattinson as a youg billionaire who rides in the back of a limo throughout. Pattinson brings charm and subtlety to his performance here. … Cusack is by far the weakest. Whereas everybody else underplays or fine tunes their roles with a sense of emotional detachment befitting their characters …”
“I enjoyed the performances … Robert Pattinson was also very good.” (Score:Â B-)
“Robert Pattinson is… well, he’s in the movie.”
“Cronenberg seems to have a knack for drawing bravura performances out of his casts and Maps is no exception.”
“Most of the rest of the cast does solid work as well …”
“Robert Pattinson has a small role, but uses it to continue to carve out a path apart from his Twilight dreamboat niche, wallowing in a chance to be repulsive.”
“While the whole thing doesn’t necessary cohere immediately as a whole, there are a number of little scenes and details that stick vividly in the mind. …. Or the way Pattinson is blithely distant from everyone, but pleasant enough, and has some vague intention of making it is a screenwriter or whatever. It’s all terribly interesting and frustratingly opaque at the same time. … Still, riveting, fascinating, great performances.”
“Robert Pattinson plays a poor limousine driver almost as well as he played a rich limousine passenger …”
(Note:Â see updated review on US release here)
“With a powerful cast including Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska, ‘Maps to the Stars’ is a shocking piece of cinema that sinks its teeth into celeb culture and refuses to let go. … Slightly underused is Robert Pattinson, who plays a wannabe screenwriter who chauffeurs the wealthy around in a stretch limousine. He is subdued but quietly effective, befriending Agatha and talking passionately about their aspirations.” (Rating: 4 stars)
“Robert Pattinson also makes a strong impression with limited screentime in his second turn with Cronenberg (following Cosmopolis)”
“Agatha has a developing relationship with an aspiring actor/limo driver played by Robert Pattinson. He is the only seemingly nice person in the film- obviously meaning he will get corrupted by Hollywood’s wicked ways by the time the end credits roll.”
“Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis) shines in a small supporting role as a driver and any acting talent shows for the first time …”
“This might be a stretch, but all the casting cultivates a fecund layer of meta-fun. Pattinson is involved in lines about a screenplay where, “We have to build a mythology”
CineyComedia.com [Christian Leal] (Spanish)
“It was very scary to see what new David Cronenberg ( Eastern Promises ) after two years presented this aberration called Cosmopolis . And there was more afraid when he announced he would have Robert Pattinson ( The Rover ) in its ranks. Well, Maps to the Stars makes all those bad omens from falling overboard and gets back to Cronenberg where it deserves.  Maps to the Stars is the redemption of David Cronenberg….. All players are at an excellent level …”
“We’ve also got Robert Pattinson, John Cusack and Olivia Williams in the mix and all deliver fine performances …”
“The other actors deliver performances that are just as powerful, even if their more aggressive characters are less endearing.”
“Supporting turns from an excellent Robert Pattinson as the chauffeur who gets dragged into the depravity …” (Score: Â 5 out of 5)
Dalenogare.com [Waldemar Dalenogare Neto] (Portuguese)
“[Agatha] romance with Jerome (Robert Pattinson) is the key that unites all the characters.”
Darren’s World of Entertainment (NZ International Film Festival)
“Performances are terrific though …”
“Cronenberg may be almost 20 feature films into his career by now, but he shows no signs of mellowing: Maps To The Stars is just as graphic, unflinching and disturbing as his earlier work. Admittedly, it’s not without its faults – John Cusack’s Stafford is one-dimensionally unpleasant, Robert Pattinson barely registers as a chauffeur and would-be screenwriter, and some plot developments are a little too easy to predict, which is an unusual thing to encounter in a Cronenberg movie.”
“Pattinson is low-key effective, with another good American accent …”
“Robert Pattinson, graduating to the driver’s seat after Cosmopolis, is a highlight as Agatha’s chauffeur and reluctant love interest – Jerome, an aspiring actor-writer who never goes more than two sentences without mentioning his screenplay, is one of the few Hollywood stereotypes that feels authentic.’
“Robert Pattinson as a mysterious limo driver …”
“It’s amusing to see Robert Pattinson in the front of the limousine after Cosmopolis – and his uncertain demeanor often seems the most genuine thing in the movie …”
“Robert Pattinson, as a limo-driving wannabe actor, is wholly convincing …”
“Pattinson took the only decent character in a despicable environment …”
“Proving Cronenberg is not above self-mockery, current muse Robert Pattinson turns up as genial limo driver Jerome Fontana (a wannabe actor-screenwriter, natch), having previously featured as the wealth-anaesthetised limo passenger in the excellent Cosmopolis.” (Score: 4 out of 5 stars)
“ Well-placed stars allow Cronenberg draw your constellation making relevant connections between their characters. The cast is synchronized at various evil ends; the cynicism of Wasikowska, inexpressiveness contained and extreme violence of John Cusack, the tranquility of Robert Pattinson …”
“Pattinson continues to display his range as an actor and does solid work, though his character has the least to do in the story.”
“And then there’s Robert Pattinson, who was so memorable in Cronenberg’s previous film, Cosmopolis, but has precious little to do here as a potential love interest for Agatha. His character could have been excised from the screenplay and the film wouldn’t have missed a beat.”
“Robert Pattinson acquits himself well as an out of work actor who chauffeurs wanabees around town … Pattinson is much in demand, not least from Moore’s character, who pins him down for a quick one in the back of the car.”
“… and the hapless would-be-actor/screenwriter (like the real LA, everyone in this world is “in the businessâ€) who cluelessly chauffeurs everyone around (he’s played by Robert Pattinson as a witty nod to his limo-riding character in COSMOPOLIS).”
“Robert Pattinson, who has a small but crucial role, has to say snide things about celebrities who haven’t really earned their standing”
“The performances are generally strong …”
“Pattinson plays a limo driver in Los Angeles, shuttling famous people around town, while hoping to break into the business with his own script and considering converting to Scientology as a career move. Pattinson’s character is modeled after its writer, Bruce Wagner, who, back in the Nineties, before achieving fame as an author, was himself a driver for famous people, working on a screenplay about his exploits in Hollywood.”
“Maps to the Stars is compelling and extravagant in all the right ways. It’s maybe not Cronenberg’s most serious or intelligent work but it’s certainly one of his most enjoyable for some time.”
“It’s involving thanks to the strong cast who bring the reprehensible, self-absorbed characters to life.”
“To Pattinson’s credit, his role was played with more subtlety than any other I’ve seen from him, but it still seemed that he was trying too hard.”
“Cronenberg is definitely felt in the casting of Robert Pattinson as a limo driver this time …”
“Robert Pattinson plays the only accessible character in the movie. Jerome is Agatha’s limo driver who had moved to LA hoping to make it big as an actor or writer. Like Agatha at the beginning, one can understand him and have empathy for him as he tries hard at his craft and has very few tragic personality traits unlike every other character in the movie.”
“Even Mr. Sparkles himself, Pattinson, as the ambitious but dim limo driver, puts in a solid showing.”
“…. and an interesting Robert Pattinson”
“I used to admire Moore’s acting ability, but in recent films like Don Jon (2013) and Carrie (2013), she has become a caricature of herself. On the other hand, Wasikowska and Williams continue to do good work in front of the camera, while the rest of the cast are just okay.”
“Hovering around the story is Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson), a struggling writer and actor working as a limousine driver. While something of a blowhard, he’s the closest thing the film has to a seemingly decent human being; perhaps not coincidentally, he could be seen as a stand-in for Wagner, who worked as a driver while getting his start in Hollywood.”
“The chauffeur of Jerome, who dreams of a career as an actor, played by Robert Pattinson with pleasant restraint …”
“… and as for Pattinson, he’s fine in a cursory role, his character existing more to be exploited by others than examined by us”
“although Robert Pattinson also floats in occasionally, as an actor/writer/chauffeur, now on the other side of the limo glass from his character in Cosmopolis …
Flickering Myth (Helen Murdoch)
“Robert Pattinson swaps to the driver’s seat of the limo after Cosmopolis and delivers a good performance as limo driver Jerome. However, is character is never fleshed out which leaves the audience wondering about him. Still he is successfully distancing himself from the Twilight franchise and is proving himself to be a promising actor.”
“Wasikowska and Pattinson — seem to be reveling in the lack of constraints.”
Flicks and the City (DVD Review)
“Robert Pattinson gives a lovely subtle turn as a wannabe actor and screenwriter who makes his living as a limo driver. Which is kind of funny because in Pattinson and Cronenberg’s first film together, Cosmopolis, Pattinson played a billionaire who was driven round in a limo all day.”
“Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, Evan Bird and Mia Wasikowska all deliver great performances and even all of the minor actors support this universe expertly.”
From The Women’s Desk on WBAI Radio
“Then there’s Robert Pattinson, an LA limo driver for hire drudge who just longs to make in it Hollywood, and appears to be the only relatively sane individual in this multiple dark side menu of mix nuts.”
Front Row Reviews (DVD Review)
“Featuring an incredible all star cast, including … Robert Pattinson … Each of these members of the cast are having a career best, as Cronenberg really allows them to discover the under layer of their characters and bring to the front all their issues, secrets and the darkness, which surrounds each and every single one of them.”
“A script written in venom, Cronenberg on bullish form and a cast on full power; this is one of the best Hollywood take-downs ever mounted.” (Rating:Â 5 out of 5)
“… and right into Robert Pattinson’s limo. (When last seen in a Cronenberg movie – Cosmopolis – Pattinson was also in a limo, but this time he’s driving.) … But for all its insistence on a dead world, depleted souls and predatory social Darwinism, Maps is hardly bereft of surplus human heat, especially in the performances …” (Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars)
“Some good performances aside (though Pattinson is wasted in a rather nothing role)”
“The feeling of excited anticipation ahead of the first screening of Maps to the Stars, David Cronenberg’s latest film starring Robert Pattinson, was not only palpable but visible … Meandering towards a strange and thrilling climax, this isn’t the film to reinvent Cronenberg’s career, but it’s enough to keep us interested, sitting”
“In fact the only person who retains his marbles in the entire story is Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson), a limo driver who writes scripts in his spare time, probably based largely on what his fares tell him about themselves”
“A stellar support cast including … Robert Pattinson (a stoic limo driver) all complement Moore’s centred performance with A-grade work. ”
“… I was surprised to see Pattinson play only a few scenes here. He’s fine, but there’s nothing about the role that is particularly memorable, and I don’t think anyone else would have gotten anything more out of it.”
“There is no optimism in this La-La Land, and the character of the environment is also a heavy weight upon the character. Even background characters like Robert Pattinson’s Jerome gets sucked in, and there is a significant shift in the narrative having to do with his non-discretion, that begins a downward spiral. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and no one is feeling anything, much less fine.
“… but everyone else is on the same page here — John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams, Robert Pattinson (yes, he’s on the stick), Sarah Gadon and the afore-mentioned Bird. They all get what’s going on, and it’s all quite perfect and complete.”
“Robert Pattison is understandably trying to distance himself from the ‘Twilight Saga’ franchise which generated many negative comments about his acting abilities. He is approaching this migration in the correct way by undertaking projects in the midrange independent film arena. Here the budgets for the films are approximately 10% of the hundred and $150 million budget afforded to the last of that horror/romance series. It appears to be working as there is a significant improvement in both his range and depth of his performance.”
“The acting of course is superb …”
“Those who are on the outside and want in, like a limo driver (an excellent Robert Pattinson) who is also an aspiring actor and screenwriter, will suffer any indignity in order to land a bit part, hoping for a way to start making connections.”
“… the performances were impressive for roles that called for each one of them to play different versions of their characters.”
“Though the film features the expected quotient of wannabe stars (Robert Pattinson’s limo-driving Jerome Fontana, for instance) …”
“This was one of the first scripts he wrote as a limo driver in Hollywood on the early ’90s, not unlike the role Pattinson plays in the film.”
Indiewire (Eric Kohn – Cannes Review)
“Only Pattinson, in a handful of scenes, is underutilized—yet the new context of his celebrity in this anti-celebrity project marks one more satisfying ingredient in Cronenberg’s subversive mixture.”
“… and Robert Pattison of Twilight proves that there is life beyond vampires.”
“Robert Pattinson is once again in a car in a Cronenberg film (their previous creation was the limo driven adaptation of Don DeLillo’s “Cosmopolisâ€) as the chauffeur Jerome. I hope the appearance of a well-dressed Robert Pattinson becomes the director’s next signature scene for movies to come.”
“Robert Pattinson is clearly relishing putting the Twilight franchise ever further in his career’s rear-view mirror, but even when you think his Jerome is just about the only vaguely moral person in this film’s twisted universe there comes a twist which throws you completely off …”
“while Robert Pattinson nails a small part as the wannabe actor-writer …”
“Where the film really shines is in the performances.”
“After Viggo Mortensen, the new darling of the Director from COSMOPOLIS, Robert Pattinson (role: Jerome Fontana) is again at the head of displays, except that unlike the previous film, its role is relatively minor and his character has almost no impact in the plot. David Cronenberg is caught in his own game. By making a mockery on Hollywood, it places Pattinson in its three headliners while it appears only about thirty minutes on 1 h 51.”
“John Cusack, Olivia Williams and Robert Pattinson (“The Rover”) lined up with also good performances.”
“The starry ensemble relish the chance to sink their teeth into a gallery of extreme characters … ”
“Even though he’s the negative image of the investment banker he played in Cosmopolis (or perhaps the same character, but reincarnated in a lower station as a punishment for past sins), Jerome is the alpha in this pairing of pale meets pale. During their second rendezvous, Agatha makes an unsuccessful pass at him, but as the two continue to serendipitously run into each other, they start a casual sexual relationship whose predatory overtones are immediately apparent, but treated in a devastatingly subtle fashion. That is to say, his true feelings for her, or benefits beyond getting off, are fully masked while they’re together — she never wavers in her belief that he’s a “nice guy,†because he never gives her reason to. When later asked by Havana if she takes her gloves off during sex, or if his friends have met her, Jerome grins and fidgets, demurring, “I’m kind of trying to write a script about it… Everything’s research on some level.â€
“… Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson, again). Wagner’s script is based on his experiences as a Hollywood driver and his alter ego Jerome reveals himself to be a more or less regular LA wannabee, trying to write, trying to act, a proper starfucker it turns out.
“Cronenberg has been making pictures about the end of the world for a while; the billionaire speculator (played by Robert Pattinson) in the preceding Cosmopolis, riding in the back of his limo while surveying the collapse of the West, has commandeered the wheel in Maps to the Stars, escaping west as far as he can go and ending up his own chauffeur (played by Robert Pattinson) who’s outspeeding the fall of civilization.”
May the Cinema Be With You (Portuguese)
“Peculiar characters very well played by the entire cast, which is able to shine to each scene. In addition to the great interpretations of John Cusack, Olivia Williams, Robert Pattinson …”
“Robert Pattinson as the limousine driver was inspired casting, a submersion of the Twilight franchise’s heartthrob into the role of faceless aspiring actor that illustrates how nobody is special in LA until suddenly, inexplicably they are. Pattinson, in this role and his previous supporting stint in The Rover, shows exponential growth since the silliness of the Edward Cullen days. He has camera charisma, and is developing the chops to match the mug. Can he become the next Brad Pitt, a great looking guy capable of turning in an Oscar-worthy performance? Could be. For now, he needs to take the next step and find a 360-degree role that allows him the range to show off his growing confidence and abilities.”
“[Cronenberg’s] shown that Robert Pattinson is much more than just Twilight with both this and his prior film, Cosmopolis.”
“ Robert Pattinson, Cronenberg’s oddly appropriate muse, no longer needs to prove his authenticity as a proper actor.”
“Pattinson plays the only version of sanity, he himself holding onto a false dream of becoming a screenwriter, whilst working as a limo driver for the stars, making for an interesting meta footnote given his recent outing in Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis in which he was the one being driven everywhere.Â
The performances are electric as Cronenberg delivers a cluster of clusterfucks and lets everyone and everything rip and sprue vitriol.”
“… and Pattinson continues to impress, clearly moving on from his more populist films into challenging and provocative roles. Whether or not this makes RP a kind of “De Niro” muse for Cronenberg remains to be seen, but for now it’s nice to see him continue to stretch himself with his role selection.”
“… and Robert Pattinson parodies the typical Hollywood chauffeur as Jerome. While all of these performances are strong, …”
“Robert Pattinson is only a brief appearance in the role that it can Fontana writer tribute to his former life in which a taxi driver had been expected, the game is acceptable. The interesting thing about this is that the previous film Krvnnbrg Pattinson, he was a wealthy and limousine but the “star map” He is a limousine driver.”
“One: small consolation: watching an underused and magnetic Robert Pattinson work as a limo driver.”
Movies.com (DVD Review)
“It not only has an incredible cast, but they’re each giving some truly memorable performances of some deeply bothersome characters. It’s not an easy movie. This is David Cronenberg we’re talking about, after all, but it’s ethereal, horrifying, and pretty dang f–ked up. It’s also one of the best movies of 2014 that you probably haven’t seen yet.”
“Cronenberg has never gone this far in exploring the actors’ talents and allowing them to show such powerful performances as he does in “Maps to the Starsâ€.”
“Robert Pattinson’s limo-driving actor-writer wannabe is perhaps the closest the film has to a ‘normal’ person, yet even he is considering the career move of becoming a Scientologist.” (Rating: 4 out of 5 stars)
“Cusack and Pattinson are both fantastic in their respective roles, although each feels shortchanged for screen time.”
“Robert Pattinson also stood out as the actor/writer/driver that left his moral compass somewhere very far away from Hollywood. This is another great part from him and again proof that he has a brilliant range. Pattinson and Cronenberg make a pretty great team and this was another excellent performance that came out of their collaboration.”
“It’s the cast that elevates Cronenberg’s film above most of the “Aren’t Hollywood folk horrid?” dramas we’ve seen in the past”
“There’s another double in-joke in the role of Jerome (Robert Pattinson), a budding screenwriter working as a limo driver. This movie’s writer, Bruce Wagner, used to do just that, while Pattinson spent the bulk of Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis (2012) as the chauffeured, rather than the chauffeur.”
“Then there’s Robert Pattinson, an LA limo driver for hire drudge who just longs to make in it Hollywood, and appears to be the only relatively sane individual in this multiple dark side menu of mix nuts.”
“The closest thing to a sympathetic character on view is a limo driver played by an impassive Robert Pattinson — an aspiring actor who’s prepared to use Agatha in any way that he can.”
“… although the strength of the movie – and the source of its deeply disturbing tone – is that almost every person in it plays things perfectly straight.”
“One positive thing that can be said of the general disarray that is Maps to the Stars is that its star-studded cast undoubtedly put on one hell of a performance.”
“… Robert Pattinson who already showed the world in Cronenbergs previous movie (Cosmopolis) that there is life after Twilight.”
“What Maps to the Stars has rooting for it is its direction, Mr. Cronenberg showing great craft when it comes to building oppressing sequences and making performances shine. But these are undoubtedly the actors who impress the most here ….”
“Pattinson, who spent most of Cosmopolis riding around in a limousine, gets demoted to limo driver for Maps. He plays Jerome, an aspiring actor …”
Público [Jorge Mourinha] (Portuguese)
“… and a very fair Robert Pattinson”
” Maps to the Stars literalizes that metaphor—practically every character is involved in some form of incest—and eventually turns it into something that doesn’t even seem to be about Hollywood anymore, but about some obscure cosmic energy that ties us all together. (Indeed, these connections even extend past the screen. Pattinson’s character is a driver, an inversion of his role in Cronenberg’s previous film, Cosmopolis, in which he spent the majority of the film in the back of a limo. …”
Revue24Images.com [Celine Gobert] (French)
“The great fair at the monsters of Maps to the stars echoes so that that included billionaires of Cosmopolis. Pattinson in his Limo – out there in the back, here in front – serves as a link between the two films.”
“… with a cast capable of contributing to give credibility to these characters, … Even the driver played by Robert Pattinson, an ambitious element that engages with Agatha by little romantic reasons, has some relief in this storyline marked still by some care in the choice of scenarios.”
Roger Walker Dack’s 5 Minute Movie Guide
“Cronenberg reunites with Robert Pattinson who starred as the executive being driven round Manhattan all day in ‘Cosmopolis’, and this time it is he who plays the limo driver that Agatha all but forces into a relationship.”
“The rest of the cast are also brilliant …”
“Long live Cannes controversy! As soon as end credits rolled on David Cronenberg’s “Maps to the Stars”, I turned to my regular Cannes buddy—the venerable Budd Wilkins of “Slant Magazine”—and gasped: “That was excellent!”. Soon after, as I read Barbara Scharres’s pan on this site, I felt the quickening of senses that usually accompanies a bolt to the rescue. Far from being “a mess on the screen,” the movie struck me as dense, consistently brilliant and very much of a piece with the work of a director I have always admired. … The interlocking constellations of characters—played by the appropriately stellar ensemble of Julianne Moore, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams …”
“Agatha’s friendship with Jerome (Robert Pattinson), a limo driver based on Wagner, is the one bright spot in the chamber of horrors she calls a life.”
“You get a feeling that everyone in this movie, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska and Olivia Williams among others, share Wagner and Cronenberg’s distaste for Hollywood bullshit. These are performances that spit in the face of the image Hollywood expects of them and it’s remarkable to watch. The film might sound like one big “fuck youâ€, a grand roasting of the city of angels, but doesn’t feel bitter or smug. It feels important.”
“After a lift into town from limo driver and aspiring actor and screenwriter Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson, amusingly cast) …” (Score:Â 4 out of 5 stars)
“Two years ago with “Cosmopolis,†and now with “Maps to the stars†Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg has been boosting his Hollywood cred with the appropriation of Robert Pattinson as his muse. Is this going to last much longer? While I waited to get into the Debussy theater for the film’s 7:30pm screening a journalist told me, ironically, “they’ll shoot another third movie together and that one will be their undoing.†Perhaps. Or not. …
“Robert Pattinson is only kind of, sort of in David Cronenberg’s ‘Maps to the Stars’ and he’s not given a lot to do and he’s fine.”
“Only Pattinson as a chauffeur with common dreams of movie/writer stardom is halfway tolerable”
“Last but not least is heartthrob Robert Pattinson who takes on the smaller role of Jerome and entrances viewers every scene he is in. He’s jaded and unscrupulous. Trapped in forever being nothing more than a chauffeur to the stars rather than being one. Still dreaming of the day he will finally break through and make it big. Not a meaty role but one that surely does its job at telling his side of the story.”
“Maps to the Stars is one of the most succulent dramas to debut this year in the United States. …. Starring a dynamite cast …. Robert Pattinson as Jerome Fontana, Maps to the Stars is nothing short of riveting. …. Robert Pattinson plays the lonely limousine driver/actor wannabe with absolutely no heart or loyalty. In other words, he is the prototypical aspiring actor who is a nobody one day and wishes to be Tom Cruise the next. ”
“… while Wasikowska, Pattinson and Bird all have unnerving moments of their own.”
Shockya (Karen Benardello)
“Much like Cronenberg’s previous collaboration with Pattinson, the 2012 thriller, ‘Cosmopolis,’ the director strived to make another emotionally suspenseful and visually compelling drama that unflinchingly examines people’s intense drive to capture achievement considered redeemable in the public eye. Much like the actor’s character, Eric Packer, in the duo’s last film together, Jerome and most of the other characters in ‘Maps to the Stars,’ notably the Weiss family, are self-involved and entitled narcissists who do little to engage any sympathy. While they have all strived to overcome harrowing experiences in their lives, from Jerome not being able to garner the attention he so longingly craves for his creative talent, to the Weiss family contending with Benjie’s drug addiction and privilege, many of the characters have little redeeming qualities that supplement their repugnant thoughts of self-entitlement.” Acting: A-
“Crackerjack performances, however, elevate the script …”
“In a scene that playfully nods to Pattinson’s backseat dalliances in Cosmopolis, even as it provides Maps to the Stars with one of its more affecting moments, Jerome betrays his bond with Agatha for a backdoor tryst with Havana, revealing this aspiring screenwriter to be nothing more than another garden variety starfucker. Then again, as he sheepishly confesses, “Everything’s research on some level.””
“Though the movie will not be their best moment, the actors in the film are willing to take a chance with their roles at least. … While John Cusack and Robert Pattinson are stuck in their thankless roles …”
“While featuring some crucial moments and strong performances, …”
“… and Robert Pattinson, whose character seems like the only nice guy in the whole place, but obviously looks can be deceptive. He pulls off a very convincing American accent and despite not having much screen time puts in an understated performance that shows his true acting chops, having seemingly been taken under Cronenberg’s wing with this being his second appearance in his films (the aforementioned ‘Cosmopolis’ being the first) it seems that he has put the sparkly vampire days well and truly behind him.”
“With the exception of the overmatched Bird, the film has a stellar cast, including Robert Pattinson in a relatively small role as a limo driver and aspiring actor who befriends Agatha when she is fresh off the bus.”
“Robert Pattinson is excellent as Jerome as a limo driver that Agatha befriends as he tries to make it as an actor/writer as he tries to find ways to make it where he does things that he knows he isn’t proud of.”
Sydney Morning Herald (Philippa Hawker)
“Agatha encounters an aspiring actor and writer working as a limo driver (Robert Pattinson, in a minor but smoothly articulated role).”
“he acid humor, unapologetic observations, and its absurdly self-absorbed characters make of “Maps to the Stars†a spot-on parody of the worst qualities of the film industry.”
Telegraph (UK) (Cannes Review)
“Jerome, a chauffeur and would-be actor winningly played by Robert Pattinson. ”
“The bizarre pairing of David Cronenberg and Robert Pattinson are back with Hollywood-targeted dram Maps to the Stars. Declaring anything Cronenberg does anymore as bizarre might seem a bit redundant, but there is something about him getting his hands on the floppy-haired ex-Twilight lothario and making him do weird things.
It is in essence at least odd, and having forced him into a limo while the world breaks down in Cosmopolis he’s now turning his attention to celebrity, actors and Hollywood. It’s a bit like the head of the AV club taking the star of the high school sports team and forcing them to read poetry about how vacuous and stupid sports are. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your opinions on the actor himself) he is effectively side-lined to a mere supporting character in a celluloid play full of weirdos and monsters and not a lot in-between.”
“Its her relationship with Pattinson that allows his out-spoken performance to find its voice, a co-star position he revels in here. ”
“Robert Pattinson is allotted the least screen time as Jerome, who gets off the hook of the film’s indictment of characters, but he reveals an opportunistic side. It seems like Cronenberg mainly cast Pattinson to make the actor’s participation of a piece with “Cosmopolis,” where he was a wealthy passenger in a stretch limo.”
“On arriving, Agatha befriends her chauffeur Jerome (Robert Pattinson) who – like everyone in town – has aspirations as an actor and writer. In a neat reversal of his Cosmopolis fortunes he’s now driving around the rich and famous.”
“… an aspiring actor who works as a limo driver for cash (a very good Robert Pattinson)”
“Agatha forms a connection with Jerome (a nicely understated Robert Pattinson), a limo driver and struggling actor.”
“Pattinson isn’t chewing much scenery in the film, but his performance feels subtle and he’s a welcome breath of fresh air from the other characters.”
“The most normal person in this freak show is Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson), a limosinechauffeur who is waiting for his breakthrough as a scriptwriter.”
The Cult Den | Cinema Perspective (DVD Review)
“Slightly underused is Robert Pattinson, who plays a wannabe screenwriter who chauffeurs the wealthy around in a stretch limousine. He is subdued but quietly effective, befriending Agatha and talking passionately about their aspirations.”
“Although many other leading men could have pulled off Pattinson’s role as a randy chauffeur, the Twilight star acquits himself well enough in a rather underwritten part.”
The Guardian UK (Mark Kermode)
“… while Robert Pattinson keeps things nicely underplayed as the dorky chauffeur (Wagner drove and wrote when he first came to Hollywood) whose supporting role puts a sly spin on his limo-riding star turn in Cosmopolis – this time, he’s in the driver’s seat.”
“And can there be anything more delightfully, nastily and appropriately vapid than the central characters in this film? Nope. This, of course, is a testament also to just how brilliant the film’s cast is in rendering the emptiness beneath their shells, but doing so with no tongue-in-cheek and always making them real. These are people you’d never want to know (or be), but that’s what makes them even more compelling.”
“It is a film with big stars (Robert Pattinson, Julianne Moore and John Cusack among them)… ”
“Everyone – from Evan Bird’s vile child star to John Cusack’s unctuous “guru†– is full of bile in Cronenberg’s best film since 2005’s A History of Violence …”
“Working from a scathing screenplay by Bruce Wagner, David Cronenberg’s depiction of narcissistic Hollywood pulls no punches. Even Robert Pattinson’s relatively neutral chauffeur and wannabe actor turns out to be a monumental jerk.” (Rating: 4 out of 5 stars)
“watching A-listers engage in a grand game of self-spoof and satire is nothing short of fascinating …”
The London Economic (DVD Review)
” The mere sight of Patterson playing a minimum wage limo driver after appearing as billionaire with half a hand in causing the west’s economical destruction within Cronenberg’s previous feature, Cosmopolis (2012) is quite humorous.”
“… hires a fancy car (driven by recent Cronenberg alumnus Robert Pattinson, an aspiring actor-writer of course!), and enquires after the titular Maps. Indeed the entire support cast sinks their teeth into their universally despicable roles.”
“… Cronenberg draws out strong performances from all involved …”
“The casting here is rather inspired … While Robert Pattinson and John Cusack are underused, they have adequate screen time and serve their purpose in the overall movie.”
“Maps to the Stars is a film that works a lot better than it should, even if it never seems as sure of itself as it should be. Featuring a fantastic cast and a delightfully cynical view of Hollywood, along with a powerful and unnerving central metaphor, Maps to the Stars is an uncomfortable piece of cinema that is all the more effective for its excess.”
“All are perfectly cast, including Robert Pattinson’s morally dubious chauffeur-cum-wannabe-actor ..”
“It’s the cast that elevates Cronenberg’s film above most of the “Aren’t Hollywood folk horrid?” dramas we’ve seen in the past.” (Score: 7 out of 10)
“Supporting turns from an excellent Robert Pattinson as the chauffeur who gets dragged into the depravity, …” (Score: 5 out of 5)
“The director’s also been gifted a cracking cast for the material. Before you ask: no, Robert Pattinson isn’t in it all that much (his role could argue be lifted from the film without too much problem), but yes, he’s pretty good in it. Plus you get to see him as a sort of glam-rock version of Khan from “Star Trek,” so there’s that.”
“This is one of those movies where you don’t really know where it’s heading — multiple subplots are in play — but the characters are strong enough that you don’t really care.”
“There are so many snakes in play, it takes a while to work out which fangs connect to which rattle. The first is Agatha, the young woman from the coach, played by Mia Wasikowska. She’s come to town ostensibly to help the actress Carrie Fisher, whom she befriended on Twitter, to write a novel – “although it might become something for HBO,†she blithely tells Jerome, a chauffeur and would-be actor winningly played by Robert Pattinson.” (5 stars)
“… a loping charmer of a limo driver, Robert Pattinson’s Jerome Fontana, who also happens to be an aspiring actor. Oh, and a screenwriter — whatever works. (As he prattles on to Agatha about the usual ins and outs of showbiz, he lets it drop that he’s thinking of converting to Scientology, “just as a career move.”)”
“To that end, Maps to the Stars Home dips elegantly into the surreal and the real, bobbing in and out of both effortlessly. You never see the strings. Much of this is clearly due to the writing — this is one hell of a script. But it is also a well-oiled machine, with actors knowing exactly what tone is required and a director who, of course, can’t help but dive right in.  That makes Maps of the Stars probably the most exciting, unexpected surprise of the film festival so far.  … Pattinson and Cronenberg are developing a nice collaboration, however, and here’s to hoping we get to see more from the two of them.”
“The cast is the whole show here … ”
“All of the performances are amazing …”
“And then there’s Robert Pattinson’s limo driver character, a wannabe writer and actor, whose capacious town car ferries the various players and also proves handy for sexual shenanigans.
This is one of those movies where you don’t really know where it’s heading — multiple subplots are in play — but the characters are strong enough that you don’t really care.” (Rating: 3 out of 4 stars)
“Julianne Moore’s raw power is on display, but the Blanche DuBois act feels equally wrought. Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson are perfectly fine.”
Ubyssey (VIFF)
“The film places this able cast in the most venomous, toxic portrait that it could dream up …”
“Maps to the Stars is another brilliant film of Cronenberg who like their fans, and rather perverse way will attract a large number of adolescent fans of Robert Pattinson. But the important thing is that you can enjoy it any lover of cinema as art.”
“Strong performances …”
UnGrandMoment (Belgium/French)
“However the real surprise comes from the game which lends the entire cast: … although he played a small role, Robert Pattinson mocks his image for our greatest pleasure. the young Evan Bird stands out as prodigious. The movie becomes fascinating.”
“… whilst Pattinson continues the decent run started in ‘The Rover‘ with another strong performance.”
Andrew L Urban:Â “Performances are chillingly good, from Julianne Moore’s self obsessed, vulnerable and pitiful Havana to 13 year old Evan Bird as the mean-spirited, spoilt, potty mouth child star Benji and everyone in between, they are all messed up and beyond redemption.”
Louise Keller:Â “… waking Jerome the driver (Robert Pattinson, especially good), an out of work actor who believes that everything is research on some level. ”
“Of the main characters, only limo driver Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson, at the wheel rather than in the backseat after “Cosmopolisâ€) feels like an outsider, though it might have been wise to filter this unwieldy satire through his eyes — or those of someone not yet corrupted by association with the industry.”
“Pattinson, who worked with Cronenberg before on COSMOPOLIS, gives us something new to see: the nice guy who can be seduced – symbolism that morals can be perverted.”
“The whole cast—excepting a couple of youngish female apparitions, who can’t bring off their dumb scenes—is perfection, chief among them Robert Pattinson as a chauffeur to the stars for whom everyone is screenplay fodder”
VultureHound (DVD review)
“In his second collaboration with Cronenberg, Robert Pattinson continues to show his chops, but is given considerably less to do here than he had in Cosmopolis”
“Too great in its individual performances” (at 3.04) Rob mention at (4.47)
“… Robert Pattinson … are all outstanding under Cronenberg’s taut direction …”
“… and Jerome (Robert Pattision) a limo-driver and aspiring writer/actor who in any other movie would be the craziest character, though seems the most sane here by default.”
YANG
“Pattinson vanishes well before the end of the film, having played a role which could easily have been cut altogether. ”
“Robert Pattinson, in a typically frivolous role”
“In a one-note role, the nuance-free Bird is a constant distraction and though Moore, Cusack, Williams and Pattinson are surely doing what the script and director ask, none comes off well.”
“… limo driver and aspiring actor played by Robert Pattinson, who only appears in a few scenes. Maps to the Stars is many things, but contrary to the advance hype, a Robert Pattinson vehicle it’s not.
It’s definitely an interesting experience, but despite the apparent eagerness to please, it most often doesn’t.”
“This completely unimaginative way of showcasing the ‘demons’ of Hollywood fame and fortune coupled with Cronenberg completely forgoing his signature style for very standard ‘clean corners’ camerawork makes Maps to the Stars a pre-school puppet show rendition of Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. ”
“Mia Wasikowska is wooden, as is Robert Pattinson (who isn’t given a lot of screen time).”
“The subplot involving Robert Pattinson (here, he gets to drive the limo) and a romance with the catalyzing figure played by Mia Wasikowski (her role here also reminiscent of a scenario from the wacky family she was part of in Stoker) also ends up feeling rather unnecessary.”
“Only Robert Pattinson’s Jerome felt shoehorned into the entire plot. (I generally don’t get Cronenberg’s obsession with Pattinson.)”
” (Almost every member of the cast is playing some variation of an irreparable person, but Moore, Wasikowska, and Bird are the most convincing of the bunch). The whole, though, feels too obvious and too vague for the movie to make any genuine impact.”
“Pattinson disappeared long before the end of the film, the role of which is actually completely unnecessary.”
MUBI [Marie-Pierre Duhamel] [Cannes Review]
“The neighborhood audience and myself  enjoyed the film while not particularly interested in any of Julianne Moore’s “daring performance” nor Pattison’s “fleeting presence” (but then, to everyone his own Depardieu) …”
“In fact, the whole film could be described as pretty crazy; insanity being a theme which is heavily explored throughout. You’ve got MiaWasikowska as an insane burn victim trying to find her family, Evan Bird seeing dead people, John Cusack and Olivia Williams as a couple with a dark secret haunting them, Robert Pattinson as a…. driver… of cars. OK that last one wasn’t really that insane, but you get the idea. Each character has their own little story intertwined into the main plot and as they start to tangle together the result is a little, well, crazy. … Watch it if you want and it may hold your interest for a few hours, but will you ever want to go back and watch it again? I doubt it.”
“The nadir of David Cronenberg’s progressively spotty career, Maps to the Stars details the exploits of several shallow, hopelessly one-dimensional characters – including … a struggling actor (Robert Pattinson’s Jerome).” (Rating: No stars out of 4)
Reihe Sieben (Martin Beck) [German]
“… and the rest, particularly John Cusack and Robert Pattinson, remains quite superficial to care.”
“The rest of the actors are largely sleepwalking through their roles, which isn’t new for a Cronenberg movie as that is sometimes part of his narrative aesthetic seen as recently as his last film, Cosmopolis, but this film falls well short of Cosmopolis.”
“In fact, the performances all around are quite cringe-worthy. …”
The Focus Pull – Double Exposure
“Jess: … Characters such as Pattinson’s limo driver on the other hand offer little to the plot and provide a sadly wooden and stilted performance. …
Taylor: … Still, though, I feel a lot of what you took issue with were some of the aspects that made it special for me. Pattinson’s limited role in the film I believe was by design. I don’t think Cronenberg is unaware of the fact that massive fan clubs of teenaged girls have been formed to worship Pattinson’s every move post-“Twilight.†It was fascinating to me to see his persona and real-world success disassembled back to the start of his career. His character in “Maps to the Stars†talks about writing scripts and auditioning for roles, but we only see him working as a limo driver until he gets a small part on what appears to be a terrible, campy sci-fi film. This could have so easily been the real-life Pattinson’s story, and the interaction between reality and the narrative was very rewarding for me.
Jess: I completely agree that this is likely the approach that Cronenberg was trying to take with Pattinson’s character, and this is an interesting insight that I hadn’t considered. However looking back retrospectively, I still don’t get that impression from him, which is likely due to Pattinson’s particularly flat acting, and lack of character personality. Had this role been offered to someone else, preferably a new face to further fit the newbie actor role, I believe it had the potential to work much better.”
“The women and the youngsters have the best roles here; Moore and Wasikowska throw themselves into theirs, mostly to good effect but at times over-recklessly … while Cusack and Pattinson are indifferent in dimensionless roles.
“Pattinson is a complete non-entity, which is in itself a great metaphor for the millions of star reaching non-entities driving limos and busing tables in Hollywood. ”
 
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Croatian
France
- Abus de ciné [Alexandre Romanazzi]
- aVoir-aLire.com [Frédéric Mignard]
- À voir et à manger [Nicolinux]
German
- Cereality
- epd Film [Patrick Seyboth]
- Filmstarts.de [Carsten Baumgardt]
- Kino-zeit
- Komm & Sieh [Sir Real]
- kritiken.de [Sophie Charlotte Rieger]
- meinkino.ch
- Moviebreak.de [Sebastian Pierchalla]
- wolframhannemann.de [Wolfram Hannemann]
- Yzordderrexxiii
- Remember it for later [Oliver Nöding]
- Filmering.at [Alexandra Zawia]
Hungary
Italy
Portugal
Russia
Spain
- ACCION Cine-Video [Miguel Juan Payan]
- El pájaro burlón [Javier J. Valencia]
- MANGANZON.com [Sergio Burstein]
- Mundoplay [Cesar Sanchez]
- Sermos Galiza [Andrés Castro] (Gallegan)
- CinePárrafos [Jonathan Mata Richardson]
Turkey
Once again, you’ve done an amazing job in compiling this, Maria. It’s astounding to me how many different opinions there can be about everything. ‘Cronenberg’s current muse’ – I love that! Thanks so much, Maria. Love reading about him and his work.
Thanks @Trish I actually enjoy doing it which is why I think I’ll go back and do it for Remember Me, Water for Elephants, Bel Ami and Cosmopolis. I have a feeling we will see a gradual shift in how Rob’s perceived.
What an effort! Thanks so much for putting this post together, Maria. Enjoyed reading the (mostly) positive reviews of Rob’s performance, though I may have wanted to punch someone called Jess in the face at one point …….
You are AMAZING Maria. Thank you so much!
Big congrats to Julianne Moore for her Oscar. I haven’t seen her in that performance but she was stunning in Maps
I saw it @Carmel. The movie was a little disappointing if you’ve read the book like I had, but Julianne’s performance didn’t disappoint and she deserved that Oscar. It was a tough year this year for the men though. I would have loved Michael Keaton to have won. Birdman was one of my favourite Oscar films and suprisingly American Sniper. Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller gave wonderful performance. In fact Sienna popped up in a few films. She was in Foxcatcher as well. So she gets to hang out with Tom and Rob, play Bradley Cooper and Mark Ruffalo’s wives and now she gets to be the wife of Charlie Hunnam. She’s one lucky woman.
……. and still, weeks after the first time I read this post, I have an overwhelming desire to punch ‘Jess’ in the face. At least I’m consistent.
Thank you Maria for this amazing effort. Love it.
You never let anything slip past, Maria. Bravo
The YING far outways the YANG here. As it should. What an awesome post. Thanks Maria.
Thank you Maria! I love this post.