Entertainment Weekly

By the end of Microbe & Gasoline, we feel a little closer to the boy who made the man behind the camera as a result.

Entertainment Weekly by Joey Nolfi

By the end of Microbe & Gasoline, we feel a little closer to the boy who made the man behind the camera as a result.

The New York Times by Stephen Holden

Time and again, Microbe and Gasoline risks cuteness without going overboard. Too easily taken for granted, its accomplishment is its ability to gaze steadily with warmth but minimal sentimentality at the world through unjaded 14-year-old eyes.

Los Angeles Times by Katie Walsh

There’s an immensity to the small dramas of this awkward in-between stage, where Microbe and Gasoline revel in no longer being boys, but not yet men. Gondry brings a sense of heartfelt nostalgia, pathos and humor to this portrait of a short, unique adolescent moment.

The Playlist by Nick Schager

Buoyed by a script brimming with authentic back-and-forth ribbing and confessional exchanges, newcomers Baquet and Dargent exhibit an alternately ribald and frank rapport that, like the film itself, taps into the volatile anxiety of finding one’s self.

The Guardian by Leslie Felperin

If this film were a person, you’d want to give it a big hug, as you would a gawky teenager, and reassure it that it will be tough out there, that not everyone is going to get its idiosyncratic charms, but that’s OK because it’s awesome just the way it is.

Time Out by David Ehrlich

From its mundane beginnings to its melancholy closing grace note, Microbe and Gasoline is such a wonderfully touching film because it remembers the urgency of wanting to get older without growing up.

TheWrap by Russ Fischer

It sidesteps saccharine wistfulness to flow without pretense, consistently putting its finely-drawn characters before other concerns.

IndieWire by Kate Erbland

At nearly 105 minutes, Microbe and Gasoline runs out of steam in its second act, but the majority of this sweet, sensitive ride is a real treat.

Slant Magazine by Ed Gonzalez

Microbe and Gasoline is enervating for both relishing whimsy and looking behind it to absorb the yearnings of youth and its attendant complications in all their nakedness.

The Film Stage by Michael Snydel

Microbe and Gasoline reaffirms that Gondry has a talent for visually dynamic work about the losses of growing up. Like a faint childhood memory, the film feels formative, but inconsequential.

Variety by Peter Debruge

With Microbe and Gasoline, the French writer-director has wisely restrained his usual flourishes, allowing the two teenage leads in his relatively calm summer-vacation coming-of-age comedy to assume centerstage, imbuing them with creative agency rather than forcing them to compete with the film’s own style.

The Hollywood Reporter by Jordan Mintzer

There’s a carefree spirit about everything that happens, including all the talk about girls and masturbation, that makes the story as breezy as the summer air,

The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Cutesy title notwithstanding, Microbe And Gasoline stands as one of director Michel Gondry’s most restrained works.