Quinceañera

TV Guide Ken Fox

One of the most perceptive movies about the gentrification of Los Angeles.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Glatzer and Westmoreland live in Echo Park, and they have given their film a remarkable sense of place.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

The film is a wonderful choice for older teens and has considerable crossover appeal for adult audiences.

Premiere Peter Debruge

On the surface, each of these characters fits a familiar Latino stereotype--teen harlot, "el bandido" and male buffoon--yet the movie insists on giving each person dimension.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A sweet and wise little film.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Gianni Truzzi

What Quinceañera does offer is charm, sensitivity and intelligence.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Despite much of the turmoil depicted, there is a sweetness to parts of this film that is reminiscent of the 1961 British movie "A Taste of Honey."

The New York Times Stephen Holden

As smart and warmhearted an exploration of an upwardly mobile immigrant culture as American independent cinema has produced.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

A pretty great little movie.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

Quinceanera took both the dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and it's easy to see why.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Quinceañera is a spirited and poignant exploration of the bonds and challenges facing a Latino family and the pains of a community undergoing a transition of its own.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Quinceañera sketches its characters and conflicts with warmth and empathy.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Using a semi-documentary approach, Glatzer and Westmoreland circumvent the considerable potential for sentimentality inherent in their story, instead taking a frank and direct approach to kids who, while far from hardened, are nowhere near innocent, either.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The film is suffused with the generous, nonjudgmental spirit of Uncle Tomas, whose live-and-let-live attitude warms like the sun and who helps Magdalena and Carlos make the safe passage from adolescence to maturity.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

At its core, Quinceañera, a modest but remarkably poignant comedy, is the story of a neighborhood.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Quinceanera may be the year's most nonjudgmental film, and therein lies both its greatest strength and most naggingly troublesome weakness.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's not fierce, it's not angry, it's not radical, it's polite and what might be called "life-affirming." But it does have a couple of attributes most movies don't.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

Life-affirming without being saccharine and enormously entertaining, film could be one of those rare specialty pictures that crossover to a mainstream audience.

Variety David Rooney

This is a fresh, spirited drama, charming and unpretentious. It mines a similar vein to recent Latino-themed pics such as "Raising Victor Vargas" and "Real Women Have Curves."

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Saucy, rowdy, heartfelt, and terribly sweet movie.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

As sweet and gentle as it is, Quinceañera is quite clear-eyed about human cruelty and indifference. In structure, however, there is a circularity to the film that allows it to end on a well-earned upbeat note.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

It's an engaging, sweet-yet-sad neighborhood slice of life, anchored by pretty cinematography and a couple of nice performances.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Despite some awkwardness, this feature by writer-directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland is a fascinating look at the area's Mexican-American milieu and other local subcultures, full of feeling, insight, and touching performances.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The whole thing comes together surprisingly well, as a celebration of its own milieu, and of a tender teen's transformation into a strong young woman.

Slate Dana Stevens

Quinceañera is a rare bird of an indie, a sharp-eyed analysis of class conflict that still manages to leave you as choked up as a proud auntie on her niece's 15th birthday.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

A natural crowd-pleaser, this year's big Sundance award winner is both overly familiar and surprisingly fresh.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Quinceañera isn't a work of art, nor does it want to be. But it is a crowd-pleaser.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

It's all such a throwback, and yet there's something rather sweet about the way this pot boils.

Empire Kim Newman

Refreshingly free of the gangs, guns and drugs clichés associated with the milieu, this is a satisfying, spicy little picture.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The movie does a good job of capturing how ostracism and liberation are sides of the same spinning coin.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Tthis isn't just any setup, is it: It's suds being sold as ethno-sensitive reality, a case of coveting thy neighbor's fiesta.