The film tells five stories of a number of artists as they spend a single day in New York's famed bohemian home Chelsea Hotel, struggling with their arts and personal lives.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 26% of 47 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.2/10, earning it a score of "Rotten". The website's critics consensus reads, "The meandering Chelsea Walls is more pretentious than poetic."[4] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[5]
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, claiming: "Movies like this do not grab you by the throat. You have to be receptive. The first time I saw "Chelsea Walls," in a stuffy room late at night at Cannes 2001, I found it slow and pointless. This time, I saw it earlier in the day, fueled by coffee, and I understood that the movie is not about what the characters do, but about what they are. It may be a waste of time to spend your life drinking, fornicating, posing as a genius and living off your friends, but if you've got the money, honey, take off the time."[6]
