Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Quinceañera
Sony Pictures Classics


7.9

based on 31 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

The Fluffer

MPAA RATING: R for language, some sexual content and drug use

Starring Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia, Chalo González, David W. Ross, Ramiro Iniguez, Araceli Guzman-Rico, Jesus Castanos, and Johnny Chavez

Quinceañera is a look at what happens when teenage sexuality, age-old rituals and real estate prices collide. It is a story fueled by the racial, class and sexual tensions of Echo Park, a Latino neighborhood in transition. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Richard Glatzer Wash Westmoreland
DIRECTED BY:	Richard Glatzer Wash Westmoreland
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 9, 2007 Theatrical: August 4, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) and Audience Award (Dramatic), 2006 Sundance Film Festival; Also known as "Quinceanera"

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

TV Guide Ken Fox

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

100

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Armond A. gave it a7:
If there's one thing I hate it's a sappy, manipulative, feel-good-and-bring-the-tissues movie that makes conservative, church-going, anti-gay, abstinence-only, folks swell with self-satisfaction. This little movie-confection is as sweet for the rest of us. While it breaks no ground in technique or narrative, it contains a number of small surprises, particularly in its division of white hats and black hats among the various ethnic and social groups that form the fabric of the story. Perhaps this is the new century's version of William Saroyan's Human Comedy.

Nancy H gave it an8:
This movie grows on you. The supporting actors were obviously homegrown and the film had that flavor. But the story, humor and humanity carry this film thru. Give Emily Rios a few more years but Jesse Garcia is ready now. The actor who played Tio was the best--fabulous heart, voice, and humanity. It's amazing to see LA in this light--submerged in a subculture of Mexico. A very enjoyable film.

Paul K. gave it an8:
The premise of the film was original and interesting. The lead actors, particularly Emily Rios and Jesse Garcia firmly anchored this, despite the questionable acting ability of some of the supporting cast and the need for tighter editing. Still, Quinceanera is worth seeing in the theater, or on video.

Billy S. gave it a7:
Went to see this without knowing anything about it as it opened without fanfare at the local Art house for 1 week run before the theatre closes to be replaced by condos. What a great finale it was! A simple story with rich layered characters living in a world I knew nothing about. Emily Rios is an actress to look out for and the movie has an endearing quailty that draws you in like you're another member of the large extended family the movie captures. If you liked Maria Full of Grace, you'll love Quinceanera.

Marc K. gave it a7:
Good movie, and definitely worth seeing. Emily Rios shines as Magdalena, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was a "breakout" role for her, like Keira Knightley's role was for her in "Bend It Like Beckham." That being said, I don't think the film is deserved of all the hype it has received as a Sundance Award winner. I'm happy for the positive recognition that all the people who made this movie have received, but Quinceanera is not in the rarefied air of a "great" picture.

West Side gave it a0:
based completely on stereotypes. gee how original. i bet the screenplay was written in an LA starbucks (on the east side for some cred). 100% lame, even racist.

Jim G. gave it an8:
A great study in moral reasoning--gentrification, wealth, casual sex, theft, premarital sex, moral absolutism, friendship, dating, duty to family, unwed mothers, sexual orientation, property rights. Shows the incredible difference between a claim to morality and living a moral life.

Quinceañera Sony Pictures Classics

Quinceañera
Sony Pictures Classics