Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Big Night" may be earnest in patches, not entirely convincing and a bit thin, but Rudnick hasn't lost his talent to amuse. The play is funny even when it stumbles and stalls."
LA Weekly - Somewhat Recommended
"...Discounting the ripped-from-the-headlines contrivance of a mass murder involving kids, Big Night might have scored validity in its effort to point up the responsibilities of the privileged among us - essentially, I think, the play's main idea. But so swiftly do the characters return to their narcissistic concerns and their repartee, and so unconvincing are the actors in their brow-wrinkling sorrow, that this main thrust of the drama swiftly becomes moot."
Broadway World - Recommended
"...Kudos to the actors who so realistically present the characters, especially in the aftermath of the horror-filled attack. And while the play may need a little refinement in its flow, I think those of us who work in the industry, as well as those who wish they did, will appreciate the often humorous look inside what goes on behind the scenes on Oscar night when things go in both the best and worst possible ways."
Edge - Highly Recommended
"..."Big Night," in a world premiere production at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, is an extraordinary comedy/tragedy, a gift to all of us from the talented writer Paul Rudnick, as well as the expert director Walter Bobbie. "
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Director Walter Bobbie has a flair for light comedy, and he easily balances the emotional moments, never letting the pendulum swing too far one way or the other. For my money, Bobbie is theater. And theatre. His decades of experience inform every single choice he makes with his actors and designers. John Lee Beatty's hotel suite set is a brilliant, towering, expensive wonder-so luxe it's almost ugly. As already noted, William Ivey Long knows his way around an evening gown. His formal wear for the four male characters is less flashy, but just as impactful in subtler ways."
Stage Scene LA - Somewhat Recommended
"...Paul Rudnick flounders Big-Time in Big Night, a World Premiere comedy-melodrama likely to prove a Big Letdown to fans hoping for more of the same hearts-and-minds-changing comedic magic that made Jeffrey and In & Out such crowd-pleasing delights."
TheatreMania - Not Recommended
"...In trying to reveal the trauma beneath Tinseltown, Big Night misses its target by a mile. Rudnick may have a great ear as a humorist, but he's tone deaf when it comes to the necessary pitch-black humor or absurdism that could have turned the evening into a more pulsating, award-worthy experience."
Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended
"...Big Night is a play with aspirations bigger than it can deliver on. The new work by playwright Paul Rudnick wants to make grand statements and provoke gnarly debates about important social issues, but complex issues need to be explored carefully - they're not best served by being glossed over to get to the next Big Idea, a trap Big Night falls into all too often."
Haines His Way - Somewhat Recommended
"...Paul Rudnick is one of my favorite living American playwrights. He has written some very funny plays (I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, Valhalla) and film scripts (Jeffrey, In & Out, Addams Family Values). Center Theatre Group is currently presenting the World Premiere of his newest play, Big Night, at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Rudnick proves he can still deliver the laughs, most especially his satirizing of the Hollywood mentality and lifestyle, but he has attempted to have a go at a more serious work about today's seemingly constant and meaningless terrorist attacks. His writing fails at making the polar opposite topics co-exist peacefully."
On Stage and Screen - Somewhat Recommended
"...A large part of the problem here is that it feels simply too soon to be satirizing a tragedy that occurred just over a year ago for the purpose of preachy social commentary. If it must be done, there may be a version that says something new or unexpected, but Big Night is not it."
