Ryan Gosling's Directorial Debut Panned By Critics

Ryan Gosling might be box office gold when he's in front of the camera, but his first feature film looks set to be a far more divisive proposition.

Lost River had a gala premiere last night at the Cannes Film Festival - and it's fair to say it has met with a distinctly mixed reception from critics.

Apparently receiving a mixture of boos and applause at its premiere, the surreal film's stars include Christina Hendricks, Matt Smith and R-Gos' real-life squeeze Eva Mendes.

The film was described as "mouth-dryingly lousy" by Robbie Collin of The Telegraph, who awarded it one star out of five.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian was more generous and gave it two stars, but opened his review with the withering line: "For 'River' read 'Opportunity' or 'Any Sense Of Proportion Or Humility' or maybe just 'Mind'."

And Justin Chang of Variety was even more entertaining in his scorn, writing: "Had Terrence Malick and David Lynch somehow conceived an artistic love-child together, only to see it get kidnapped, strangled and repeatedly kicked in the face by Nicolas Winding Refn, the results might look and sound something like Lost River."

But despite the negative press, R-Gos is reported to have been given a five-minute standing ovation at the close of the screening.