Critic Reviews

The Loveless is far from Bigelow or Dafoe's best work but still remains an impressive debut for both. Thanks to the deliberately subdued pace and reworking of the biker genre, The Loveless deserves to be given a second chance.

At times the perversely slow beat of each scene can irritate, but that's a reasonable price for the film's super-saturated atmosphere.

Not much happens, but the the filmmakers' knowing, stylized eroticization of biker culture is extraordinary.

The Loveless is neither trashy nor fun. It's art - or so it thinks, but its self-consciousness is grating and its congratulation of the audience for getting the camp is patronizing. [10 Sep 1982]

The Loveless, a pathetic homage to the 1950's, has been made by two writer-directors, Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery, who share an unmistakable longing for that era. But their nostalgia expresses itself no more interestingly than through a lot of silly, lifeless posturing, plus the use of colors like chartreuse.