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Personal Velocity
MGM / United Artists


7.4

based on 28 reviews
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based on 5 votes
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FILM:

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

MPAA RATING: R for brief violence, some strong sexuality and language

Starring Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, Fairuza Balk, Tim Guinee, Wallace Shawn, Ben Shenkman, Patti D'Arbanville, and John Ventimiglia (narrator)

Based on Rebecca Miller's acclaimed book of short stories, this film tells three tales of women who have reached a turning point in their lives.

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Rebecca Miller
DIRECTED BY:	Rebecca Miller
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 18, 2003 Video: March 18, 2003 Theatrical: November 22, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	86 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Grand Jury Prize, 2002 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...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Miller shows terrific talent as a director with a sharp eye for images, a keen ear for dialogue, and a refreshing willingness to take storytelling risks.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A no-frills docu-Dogma plainness, yet Miller lingers on invisible, nearly psychic nuances, leaping into digressions of memory and desire. She boxes these women's souls right open for us.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Everything and everyone is observed sharply, succinctly and indelibly.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The cumulative effect is that of watching misspent lives disintegrate before your eyes. Ms. Miller's canny accomplishment is a triumph, giving the material weight and heart. This is one of the finest pictures of the year.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The actors are gifted at establishing character with just a few well-chosen strokes (as a short story writer must also be able to do). We learn as much about each of these women in half an hour as we learn about most movie characters in two hours.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Embraces reality, humanity and compassion, as leavened by wisdom and wit.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Miller's strength in her stories and in the film is in her ability to push past ideology and get right down to the nitty-gritty of desire.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Impresses with the originality of its observation, storytelling techniques and filmmaking style.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The movie's much more than a castor-oil feminist message about self-realization, bad old Dad and all those awful men. The performances take care of that.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Moviegoers bewailing the absence of literacy and shallowness of character they usually get for their seven bucks need look no further than this fluent and satisfying triptych for a source of hope.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

It's not afraid to be funny, tragic and decidedly female.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The acting is uniformly excellent, with Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuza Balk in particular deserving to be singled out for praise.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Succinct yet detailed storytelling, evocative cinematography (by Ellen Kuras) and arresting central performances add up to a trio of engaging character portraits.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

A drama that's often insightful and occasionally powerful but is still, at heart, a piece of television and not a work of film.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Has the confessional intimacy of a video diary and performances to match, particularly those of Kyra Sedgwick and Parker Posey.

Film Threat Merle Bertrand

An intensely moving and oftentimes haunting film; a compelling look at the unique life paths of three totally different women.

TV Guide Ken Fox

All three actresses are simply dazzling, particularly Balk, who's finally been given a part worthy of her considerable talents.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The first two stories are so well-drawn you hate to leave them. But Miller's femaleempowerment anthology carries a smart whiff of other literary looks at ordinary, extraordinary women, such as Grace Paley's "Enormous Changes at the Last Minute."

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

The movie's title refers to a comment about how people grow at their own rates. Miller's movie has its moments of impressive velocity, but it never quite takes off.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

Miller's women share the affliction of scars left by dominating fathers. But the stories lean toward self-importance, and used verbatim in heavy voice-over, they register as a parody of spareness. Posey is the only one who has fun puncturing the solemnity, turning the real surreal in a softer version of her usual attack.

Salon.com Jeff Stark

The thing I took away from that opening was that it was small, and looked beautiful. There was some technique and a little confusion. It didn't seem to have a conflict all plotted out and neatly resolved. The thing I didn't like is that the rest of the movie did.

Chicago Reader Richard M. Porton

Rebecca Miller's second feature shows her to be a careful but somewhat schematic scenarist; her shaky directorial skills are partly offset by her skill at eliciting convincing portrayals from actors.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Liberal use is made of freeze-frame and flashbacks as a kind of emotional chronology, yet it's precisely in this regard that the characters feel tentative and half-formed. I'm still trying to figure out why this perfectly serviceable movie won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

The actors navigate tough characters through emotional mayhem with such intense determination it's a shame they're undercut by the intrusive voice-over.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The writing is self-consciously literary in a way that probably worked better on the page.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A hit-and-miss affair, or, to be more precise, a miss (story one), hit (story two) and break even (story three) affair.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

This isn't a movie -- it's an author in love with the sound of her own voice.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Taken together, the stories are a watershed of feminist clichés, composed of half-hour sections that are too tidy by half, and overlaid with writerly voiceovers that suggest an author too enamored of her own narration. But one salvageable piece emerges in the middle: a sharp and acerbically funny segment that seems written specifically for Parker Posey.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brenda C. gave it a 3:
What a disappointment. The cast was exellent, but let down by a poor script. Terribly self indulgent and very unsatifactory. So sad, as it had the potential to be so much better. Thankfully I had complimentary tickets so it cost nothing, but what a waste of time!

Chad S. gave it a 10:
Was 2002 some sort of watershed year for female directors of independent film? Nicole Holofcener's "Lovely & Amazing", Jill Sprecher's "13 Conversations About One Thing", Christine Jeff's "Rain", and now Rebecca Miller's "Personal Velocity". All of these films deserve serious thought when putting together a "Best of 2002" list. I almost skipped this invigorating movie because the critic in my region panned it. She suggested we should skip the movie and read the book. Do yourself a favor and do both. Like children, don't play favorites. All three stories are wonderfully written, acted, photographed, and directed. Most importantly, this is not a chick flick. A bad film with female protagonists is a chick flick. Like "Beaches".

Lampert D. gave it a 6:
Didn't really work for me, although most of the reviews I read led me to believe it would.

Michael H. gave it a 10:
Nuanced, subtle portraits. Sharp, original view of topics that you think are well-worn. See it!

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Personal Velocity MGM / United Artists

Personal Velocity
MGM / United Artists