Philip is an acclaimed but abrasive young writer waiting for the publication of his second novel. He feels bored of his daily life and his shaky relationship with photographer girlfriend Ashley. In all of this chaos, his idol, veteran novelist Ike Zimmerman, offers him accommodation at his summer home, an isolated place where he might find peace.
Listen Up Philip received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film 85% based on 122 critics, with an average rating of 7.58/10 and an audience rating of 55%. The site's critics consensus reads: "As thought provoking as it is uncompromising, Listen Up Philip finds writer-director Alex Ross Perry taking a creative step forward while hearkening back to classic neurotic comedies of 70s cinema". On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, it has an average score of 76 from 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Scott Foundas of Variety, in his review said that "Jason Schwartzman shines as a self-absorbed writer who doesn't quite learn the error of his ways in Alex Ross Perry's sharp and darkly funny third feature." Todd McCarthy in his review for The Hollywood Reporter praised the film by saying that " indisputably talented work for its risk-taking, dark humor and barbed portraiture of creative individuals." Richard Brody of The New Yorker, praised the film by saying that "I can't think of a recent movie that stages with as much joy and wonder the sense of living a life that becomes, directly or obliquely, in action or in idea, the stuff of art." Sam Fragoso in his review for RogerEbert.com said that "Alex Ross Perry's third feature film is his most narratively satisfying and intellectually demanding one, demonstrating a maturation in both style and substance." Rodrigo Perez of Indiewire, graded the film A- and said that "A deeply misanthropic portrait of narcissism, the brittle nature of artistic talent and the struggles of living in New York City, this toxic comedy pulls very few punches when it needs to get really nasty." The A.V. Clubs Ignatiy Vishnevetsky called it "a howlingly funny black comedy with really sharp teeth", going on to say: "Writing pithy wisecracks is easy. What Perry does is write banter that reveals his character’s insecurities and weaknesses; There's a level of criticism at play in the film, which immediately sets it apart from similarly set New York art-world horror stories, but it doesn’t cancel out the writer-director’s clear empathy for his characters, who never quite manage to empathize with each other. This sort of mature perspective is a rare thing, and Listen Up Philip establishes Perry as a major talent."
