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Broken English
Magnolia Pictures


6.8

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content, brief drug use and language

Starring Parker Posey, Melvil Poupaud, Drea de Matteo, Justin Theroux, Gena Rowlands, Peter Bogdanovich, Tim Guinee, and Josh Hamilton

In a startling mature and nuanced performance, Parker Posey plays Nora Wilder, a thirty-something Manhattanite who is cynical about love and relationships, in this astute collaboration with first-time writer/director Zoe Cassavetes. (Magnolia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Zoe R. Cassavetes
DIRECTED BY:	Zoe R. Cassavetes
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 21, 2007 Theatrical: June 22, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic), 2007 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

Broken English takes 30 minutes to do what most romantic comedies manage with a simple montage. That's a good thing, by the way.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie needs more incident and complication; it's modest to a fault.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

As a director, Cassavetes is a keen observer of character and social interaction but not yet much of a visual stylist (which might also describe the improvisational dramas made by her actor/director father, John).

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

A pleasantly disposable romantic comedy starring the once and future indie-queen Parker Posey.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

As charmingly verklemmt New York women with bad luck in men and good luck in apartments go, Nora Wilder in Broken English has all the breaks.

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

A well-acted, smartly directed film that’s depressing because it could have amounted to so much more. It departs from the studio-financed romantic-comedy template in just one, unfortunately fatal respect: it makes a point of pride out of rejecting cliché, then swoons into its embrace.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Demonstrating that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, the screenwriter-director has delivered a well-observed film boasting highly realistic performances and dialogue, if not plot elements. But it's Posey's fascinating portrayal of a thirtysomething Manhattan single woman looking for love that lifts the film above its "Sex and the City" predictabilities.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

A wry, charming romance about a New York woman who has given up hope of finding love.

Variety Dennis Harvey

A pitch-perfect lead performance by Parker Posey and debuting feature writer-helmer Zoe Cassavetes' deft, low-key approach raise Broken English a couple notches above the usual run of lonely-single-woman-seeking-romance-in-the-big-city yarns.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

There's not a lot of story here and the dialogue lacks the snap one usually gets in New York stories of affluent young adults, but the characters have an authenticity.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

This movie belongs to Posey, and her nuanced performance makes Broken English a worthy adventure.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Both neurotic and endearing, it's so carefully accessorized you may not even notice that, at heart, it's a standard-issue romantic comedy.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

It's the stuff of countless advice columns, daytime talk shows, sitcoms, romantic comedies. Quite frankly, it's tired. What makes a difference here -- although really not enough of one -- is the people.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's the kind of film that will resonate only with a tiny fraction of the available audience. Unless a viewer's age and situation mirrors that of Posey's Nora Wilder, odds are that this movie will generate a sense of déjà vu.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

For all its impeccable indie credibility, writer-director Zoe Cassavetes' bittersweet romance is little more than a hipster chick flick in which the same old smart women make the usual foolish choices.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Posey is a delight throughout, and Zoe Cassavetes is clearly a filmmaker to watch.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Cassavetes, who wrote the script, proves her skill with actors in this woozy push-and-pull of slurred compliments and shaky hopes for whatever lies beyond the next day.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

There is a very good movie named "Before Sunset" that begins more or less where this one ends. Which tells you something right there.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A conventional New York-lonely hearts story made watchable by one element and one element only: Parker Posey.

Film Threat Jamie Tipps

What began as an interesting character study ends in convention, offering only the most clichéd platitudes in summation. You can't find true love until you love yourself? Hasn't Dr. Phil been telling us that for years?

Village Voice Michelle Orange

Posey remains touching as the woman with happiness in sight but bewilderingly out of reach.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Despite its schizophrenic nature and often disagreeable characteristics, Broken English has flashes of something. You might say it has an integrity of purpose, if not of execution.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Given the gift of Posey at the peak of her powers, Cassavetes squanders her star in low-key, go-nowhere conversations, shot without flair and drained of any improvisatory energy.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Broken English doesn't break any code or offer original insights on the subject. But there's a spark whenever Posey and Poupaud are together.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Almost nothing that's said or done here is convincing. And the energy is set at near-coma level.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

How Posey's neurotic, self-destructive heroine finds her way to healing is the core of this generous film, whose moral is that happiness can't begin unless you're open to its possibility.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

If Broken English occasionally falls prey to a bit too much self-conscious lethargy, it's still a welcome chance to see Posey at her flighty, edgy best.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ellen H. gave it an8:
Maybe it's been done a million times before and the ending feels like the biggest surrender to sentimentality, but that doesn't cancel out all the good that came before: outstanding and truthful performances, story and characters that resonate universally, nuance, and compassionate storytelling. This movie is like a small compact mirror being held up in front of one woman's life, but anyone looking can draw comparisons to their own.

sarah s gave it an8:
Broken English is a chick-flick, but it's a good one. Posey is gut-wrenchingly believable as an insecure & neurotic 30something, the art direction is fantastic. But there is a key moment in this film when it stops being just chick-flick stuff and starts becoming something more magic. I dont think I would have enjoyed it as much if it weren't for that. I will definitely keep an eye out for KC's flicks.

Mel S gave it a6:
Sad. Good acting, but slow and sad.

Aliya A gave it a10:
Awesome realistic movie.. had a touch of emotion, anxiety, artistic.. great acting!

Marc K gave it an8:
Well-directed, well-written, well-acted. Maybe I'm just in the tiny sliver of people that James Berdanelli says will really like this movie. Parker Posey is pitch-perfect in a very soulful film.

Chad S gave it a7:
This is not "Manhattan". This is not "Before Sunset"(or "...Sunrise"). "Broken English" makes reference to both; in particular, the pair of Richard Linklater films that made Julie Delpy look like the most desirable woman on the planet. If "Before Sunset" was a conventional Hollywood pic, copying the ending would make sense, since "Broken English" isn't a formulaic romantic comedy. But neither was the Ethan Hawke vehicle. Both movies are "art films". Nobody swoons in Paris. More amusingly, Nora and her friend Audrey(Drea de Matteo) act as couriers, but a Jean Pierre-Melville film fails to materialize. The music is distinctly dissonant. There's no jazzy or cafe-inspired score. "Broken English" missteps when it draws attention to the Linklater film because this prosaic romp through France pales in comparison. On its own terms, however, "Broken English" is a modest success. It's an anti-romantic movie about finding love...with a romantic ending.

Joep K. gave it a1:
Bad movie, none of the actors were convincing, no humor and the story was as simple as any chickflick could possibly be. Probably one of the worst movies I saw in the last couple of months.

Broken English Magnolia Pictures

Broken English
Magnolia Pictures