Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...if old-fashioned means a certain ease with prose; an unhurried willingness to dwell on the nuances of life as it is lived; a trust in vivacious, empathetic characters; a comfort with honest, irony-free, unpretentious storytelling, then that was fine and dandy with the rapt Sunday night audience at the Goodman Theatre."
Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...Foote, the author of dozens of plays (but still best known for his screenplays for "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Tender Mercies" and "The Trip to Bountiful"), captures small-town Southern life of an earlier era with affection and wit. He doesn't disguise his characters' prejudices (against blacks and Mexicans, though even Baptists are suspect to Methodists, and a reminder that Jesus was Jewish can, hilariously, silence everyone)."
Daily Herald
- Recommended
"...There's nothing flashy about Henry Wishcamper's wistful production, which inaugurates Goodman Theatre's three-month salute to the playwright. Wishcamper's intimate, delicately acted production -- staged in the round, a first for Goodman -- gives the play the deference it deserves."
SouthtownStar
- Recommended
"...We feel the suffocating heat of the day and sympathize with the desperation of those faced with changing roles, and are compelled by the timeless tension of a family trying to stay together in perilous times."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Foote’s warm, funny, plainspoken characters, heroic in their own quiet ways, provide a welcome relief from the hothouse grotesques beloved of so many other chroniclers of small-town southern life."
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...While there's not a weak link in this impeccable cast, Blue and McKnight offer reason enough to beat a hasty path to the Goodman box office. They're subtly magnificent, mining depths within depths from the riches in Foote's script. A clichéd but ugly truth: Good roles for women over 30 are as rare as a profanity-free David Mamet scene. But even were they a dime a dozen, what Blue and McKnight deliver here would make Talking Pictures a thing of sublime rarity."
EpochTimes
- Recommended
"...This is a delightful show to watch and has just enough of each emotion to satisfy every member of the audience. During intermission, I spoke with Hispanics, Christians, African Americans and even a nice couple from Israel. While all had a different slant on what they saw, they all seemed to feel as did I, the message is clear- move on and don't despair."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The actors, of course, are very good, despite a couple of overdone exceptions. But some reactionary (if realistic) postfeminist notes aside, the problem with naturalism like this is classic. There’s a faint conflict here, but it’s mostly an excuse for high-level performance and easy nostalgia; neither quite reminds us why we’re at the theater."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"...Seen through the eyes of well developed characters, Talking Pictures is a most worthy and interesting look at social change. We see how basically good people can justify prejudice about ethnic groups and religions out of sheer isolation and ignorance."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Henry Wishcamper allows for a fairly languid pace that has much reward in the beauty and honesty of quiet. The production also achieves an appealing intimacy thanks to Set Designer Tom Burch's first-time in-the-round configuration of the Goodman's Owen Theatre. The eleven-member cast works beautifully as an ensemble, with young Gabriel Notarangelo a particularly delightful burst of charm and feistiness as the Mexican preacher's son dedicated to "spreading the word". In "Talking Pictures," the word is excellent."
