It’s already generating awards buzz and is up for four prizes at the Golden Globes on Sunday night.
But Maestro viewers have revealed one gripe with the critically acclaimed film – that they couldn’t hear anything the actors were saying.
The biographical drama film follows the longtime relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.
It was directed by Bradley Cooper, who also plays Leonard, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Josh Singer, and also stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia.
It has earned rave reviews from critics and is nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress at the Globes.
Maestro viewers have revealed one gripe with the critically acclaimed film – that they couldn’t hear anything the actors were saying (Bradley Cooper pictured in film)
The biographical drama film follows the longtime relationship between conductor-composer Leonard Bernstein and actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Bradley pictured in film)
It was directed by Bradley Cooper, who also plays Leonard, and stars Carey Mulligan as Felicia (pictured together) It has earned rave reviews from critics and has four Golden Globes nominations
But viewers have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter to complain that the film is let down by the fact that it is ‘barely audible’ as the actors are constantly ‘mumbling’.
One person wrote: ‘The mumbling maestro ……so dull and so hard to hear the convos when he and his wife are talking over each other and his deep mumble Ugh. Turned off after an hour’.
Another added: ‘Just watched ‘Maestro’ on Netflix. Mixed feelings but wish the diction had been more clear – much mumbling. Trouble is cast and director live with and are familiar with the script but we only get one shot at comprehension. Good performances from Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan’.
A third quipped: ‘Either I am going deaf or Maestro was a whole lot of mumbling’ while a fourth echoed: ‘Cooper was mumbling his dialogue THE WHOLE TIME’.
Someone else said: ‘AWFUL! (1st 30 minutes review) I love Bradley Cooper and Matt Bomer but there was so much mumbling and over talking I couldn’t make it past 30 minutes, which includes 25 minutes of forcing myself to give it a chance.’
While a sixth agreed, saying: ‘cooper spent yrs prepping Maestro? i stopped 5 mins in bc he was mumbling & i couldn’t understand’.
A seventh person wrote: ‘I needed to turn on the subtitles to understand Cooper’s mumbling and eventually gave up.’
While another tweeted: ‘Ultimately found Copper’s Bernstein insufferably annoying in his mumbling’, and a ninth said: ‘The whole movie is mumbling between people.’
But viewers have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter to complain that the film is let down by the fact that it is ‘barely audible’ as the actors are constantly ‘mumbling’
A tenth added: ‘Watched it the other night and literally couldn’t understand half of Cooper’s lines; too much mumbling’ while another fumed: ‘Incessant mumbling, poor dialogue. Unwatchable.’
And someone else wrote: ‘I’m 20 minutes into Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, and I don’t understand a single f***ing word that is coming out of anyone’s mouth and English is my first language’.
It’s not the only film that has been criticised for having too much ‘mumbling’ with several other major movies from last year facing the same complaint.
Christopher Nolan has routinely come up against this criticism in his career, including for his films Inception and Tenet.
His most recent film, Oppenheimer – which is up for eight prizes at the Globes – has also been levelled with the accusation that the dialogue is intelligible under the booming score.
One person wrote: ‘Why was some of the dialogue for Oppenheimer barely audible? In some scenes they were straight up mumbling and I had to strain my ears to follow along, my friend too. The mixing was great overall, but I’d like to hear them what they’re saying, too.’
Another echoed: ‘One hour into Oppenheimer. I AM NOT following this movie AT ALL. Everyone is just f***in mumbling???? I literally can only make out about 2/3 of the dialogue.’
And a third added: ‘Watched Oppenheimer today but man. I could not understand s**t at ALL. What even is that sound mixing? Everyone’s mumbling so it’s hard to even make out what people are saying. It really did impact my enjoyment since it SEEMED pretty good but I can’t really reflect on it.’
It’s not the only film that has been criticised for having too much ‘mumbling’, with Christopher Nolan routinely coming up against this criticism in his career (pictured on Oppenheimer set)
His most recent film, Oppenheimer – which is up for eight prizes at the Globes – has also been levelled with the accusation that the dialogue is intelligible under the booming score (Cillian Murphy pictured in film)
One person wrote: ‘Why was some of the dialogue for Oppenheimer barely audible? In some scenes they were straight up mumbling and I had to strain my ears to follow along’
The reasoning for the sound is down to the fact that Christopher shoots his films with gigantic Imax cameras, which aren’t fully soundproof, and refuses to re-record the actors in post-production (pictured on set)
The reasoning for the sound is down to the fact that Christopher shoots his films with gigantic Imax cameras, which aren’t fully soundproof, and refuses to re-record the actors in post-production.
This process is known as ADR, meaning additional dialogue recordings, and is used in virtually every TV show and movie so that actors’ lines sound clearer.
Another recent film that was hit with complaints that it was hard to understand was Killers Of The Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
While the movie has been greatly praised and racked up seven Golden Globe nods, people once again accused the actors of mumbling.
One wrote: ‘killers of the flower moon was great but what is it with movies these days and everybody mumbling all the f***ing time it took me twice as long to get grounded in the story as it should have because i couldn’t understand a damn thing anybody was saying’.
With a second echoing: ‘killers of the flower moon—so well executed but god did i need subtitles for the english dialogue, those actors were f***ing MUMBLING’.
Popular TV shows like Doctor Who, Succession, Vigil and Happy Valley have also been levelled with the same critique in recent years, leading viewers to turn towards streaming services with the option of subtitles even more than ever.
Another recent film that was hit with complaints that it was hard to understand was Killers Of The Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (pictured)
While the movie has been greatly praised and racked up seven Golden Globe nods, people once again accused the actors of mumbling