Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "My Best Friend's Birthday" is a film that runs for slightly over an hour and was made almost 30 years ago by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino in his early 20s. According to IMDb, this is his second project. Just like his co-writer Craig Hamann, Tarantino also plays a major character in this film looking pretty punk and with his mannerisms and all he has not changed a bit in the last 30 years. Of course I only watched about half of this film as the other half is apparently lost. What a shame. This is a pretty good work for such a young filmmaker and the talent is visible. The best about it is, as usual with Tarantino, the dialogs: fresh and creative from start to finish with tons of interesting references to music in this very case. We hear about Elvis and Rod Stewart and there is even a Johnny Cash song included in here. Love him. Tarantino must have had great taste in music as another of his early works features Leonard Cohen, another favorite of mine. So yeah what can I say: I recommend this little movie. It only runs for a bit over 30 minutes, so it does not take long to see, basically like a short film. A pretty good watch.

Rodrigo Amaro Today, Quentin Tarantino's first film "My Best Friend's Birthday" might be silly or very poor in quality to some, but to others it is a perfect example of seeing how a great director was born, with a limited budget trying to make a small film without taking film lessons in film schools elsewhere. For the fans, this is a great chance to see a few things that makes us love Quentin and his films and that is his early uses of film references; pop culture references; those long and interesting, clever and funny dialogs.In its half hour more or less, unfinished or with the ending lost somewhere, "My Best Friend's Birthday" delivers short situations with a bunch of characters talking randomly but very funny stuff or getting themselves involved in some hilarious situation. But all of these small sketches takes them to Mickey's birthday (played by Craig Hamann, one of the writers of the film), friend of Clarence (Tarantino, playing the role later given to Christian Slater in "True Romance"), a friendlier and funny DJ of a local station, who holds our attention with his movie references like "Jailhouse Rock", "The Countess of Hong Kong" and "Dressed to Kill", and his ideas on Elvis, music and other things. Right there, in 1987, and you already have the Tarantino as his usual routine as we all know: fast talker, the way he uses the references and the music in the background (classic rock), and all. It's more like a comedy and the only instance of violence comes with a hilarious moment of Mickey fighting kung fu with a pimp and that's it. The rest of it is dialog after dialog and brilliant ones (my favorite parts are the "garlick gum" that made a guy cursing all the time and Quentin having a cocaine bad trip).Even without the ending and with a terrible amateurish cinematography, this is a good example of how someone can start in the film business but with very few at hand. During interviews about the amazing "Inglorious Basterds" Quentin said this: "Some people will like "Inglorious Basterds". Some people won't. But it was made with all the passion I've made everything with - except maybe my first film, which was probably made with more passion than I'll ever have again." Even if now, he disowns this little gem, barely talks about it, this statement, made when he already had given us classics like "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction", is a proof that even this almost unseen short film has a special place in Quentin's heart, something he'll never forget. And it was his first real experience behind a camera dealing and learning with all the pros and cons about what making a film really is.I enjoyed it and recommend. It's hilarious, funny, entertaining, very simple and with incredible moments. We can only look back and see how Tarantino got better and better with the time. 10/10

edwinharbor QT's "first" film is a glimpse of what was to come from a very talented writer/director; rich banter with an entertaining and skewed look at life. Shot in black and white, on a very small budget, the film has many shortcomings compared to the director's other films. However, it is still part of Tarantino's body of work. In the mid 80's there were not many ways a filmmaker could get a film made - short of getting a film camera and making one with their buddies - and a quick look at the production credits for "My Best Friend's Birthday" suggest this to be the case.I heard this film was unwatchable, but it is actually quite instructional for all hard-core Tarantino fans. Many have stated that this film was QT's film school; so be it. Cream rises because it is less dense than the milk it is found within and eventually makes its way to the top.However, until someone takes a spoon and scoops the cream off the milk, it's stuck there. The Reservoir Dogs producer (Lawrence Bender) skimmed QT from the vat and we are the happy recipients of some rich delicious ice cream due to such.

jzappa Tarantino's would-be debut film fortunately was not his actual debut film. There are a few fun scenes, but telling by the thirty-five minutes from which we're able to discern, his proclaimed "Martin & Lewis homage" is a forgettable, homophobic implosion of his pop culture-consumed mind.At least it's SOMETHING different from Tarantino in one respect, and that is that it's a comedy. There are a few laughs but not enough even for thirty-five minutes. However I do admire the fact that even though this makes no exception to Tarantino's filmography of nothing but homages to other movies, it bears no resemblance to a Martin & Lewis film at all. So he did manage to branch out further than an overt mock-up of the framework of what he intended to pay.