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Twelve and Holding
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Anthony Cipriano
Directed by: Michael Cuesta
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 19, 2006
DVD: October 10, 2006
Running Time: 94 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for some violence and sexual content involving minors, and for language
Starring Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho, Zoe Weizenbaum, Linus Roache, Annabella Sciorra, Tom McGowan, Marcia DeBonis, and Jeremy Renner
Twelve and Holding explores the complexities of children losing their innocence and adults struggling to guide them. (IFC Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: L.I.E.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
The New York Times Stephen Holden
This is the exceedingly rare film that understands how lonely, insecure preadolescent children can become so consumed by their feelings that they lose sight of ordinary boundaries and unconsciously act out their parents' darkest fantasies of passion and revenge.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Aside from its frank consideration of preteen sexuality, the most daring thing about Cuesta's extraordinary film is its willingness to put honest, intelligent dialogue in the mouths of kids.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Twelve and Holding could have been a series of horror stories, but the filmmakers and their gifted young actors somehow negotiate the horrors and generate a deep sympathy.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Cuesta directs the lead actors with such feeling that their misery seems authentic.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
This is one of those rare movies about children but not necessarily for them, and it treats its adolescent subjects with bravery and compassion.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Except for an ending that's so implausible it might have derailed a less solid work, Twelve and Holding is a realistic and sympathetic portrayal of what it's like to be young and confused
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
I'd argue that a very good movie could have been great if it had kept to subtler psychological tones.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Cuesta prizes curiosity and perception over conflict resolution. He likes the way kids take their cues from adults and the ways they revolt against them. Even as the kids do the ugliest things, the film stays cool without ever being cold.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
The kids deliver uniformly solid, occasionally remarkable performances.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Director Michael Cuesta hits the right notes with his characters. They are believable 12-year olds: intelligent (but not too intelligent) yet naïve, and trying with mixed success to navigate the path of adolescence.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The film 12 and Holding brings you back to when you routinely said things like, "I'm going to kill you" or "We're soul mates" and meant it.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
Deals in sometimes queasy areas of underage sexuality and emotional extremes; again, deftness and confidence ultimately put across a screenplay (this time by Anthony S. Cipriano) overloaded with sensational incident.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Lacks the powerful focus of the filmmaker's debut effort and often flounders under the weight of its melodrama and contrivances. But it also boasts many well-observed moments and features stellar performances by its youthful cast.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Smart, compassionate filmmaking that captures both the intricacies and the tragedy of contemporary adolescence.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Follows the youngsters over the course of a tumultuous year, during which time Cuesta and screenwriter Anthony Cipriano succeed in making the audience care desperately whether they're okay and whether the adults in their lives do the right thing. The lingering question is why that should be so improbable.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
A movie with better parts than a whole. But where it's right, it's really right.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Dennis Lim
To call Twelve and Holding cartoonish is to put it mildly. Marked by reckless tonal shifts, Anthony Cipriano's screenplay traffics in sensationalism and sentimentality.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
With two of the three engines effective, Twelve and Holding unfortunately breaks down by trying to wrap up its problems too neatly. In this vision of early adolescence, the script throws in solutions when the preteens are still feeling out their issues.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Most of the time, however, we are watching pathology without benefit of insight.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
Low-production values, including glaring inconsistencies in the makeup department, add to the bargain-basement atmosphere of this kidsploitation quickie.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
The trouble with 12 and Holding, which pits four young protagonists in intertwining battles for spiritual (and, well, literal) survival, is that it's just too much.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Cuesta works well with underage actors, but there's no hiding the fact that these kids amount to little more than the sum of their suffering at the hands of cardboard parental incompetents
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The young cast is terrific, giving the stories unearned weight.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Begins audaciously but goes to extremes to assert conventional wisdom about grownup life, that what is called "normal" is about just holding on.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
The drama feels factory-cut and shrink-wrapped, with each of three kids' stories following predictably twisty paths to ironically hopeful conclusions.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Prad R. gave it a9:
Bully, Mean Creek, Palindromes, Running with Scissors failed where this film succeeds, Little Miss Sunshine was also in a similar vain and pretty good, considering the younger actors, and therefore the brilliant direction, the tough subject matter, and low budget, this film is so near perfect, I've not seen another film that has similar aims, that is powerful, emotional, well scripted, funny, just everything you want from this stuff. Only complaint...is that is is obviously construed, as in all these things aren't really going to happen to the same bunch of people at the same time, but that really misses the point, it speaks wonders, no matter what age, if you have lived life and felt anything at all, then hopefully you will understand and feel a lot during the whole of this film. brilliant. I only just realized that the same director did LIE - which again, with such a dark subject managed to come across poetic, deep and meaningful, I compare it to American beauty without the gloss, I think Ive just found my favorite new director. children really are showing adults up in the acting department it seems.
Paul M. gave it a10:
Only film this year that kept me engaged and unsure until the end. No pain-by-numbers here!
Chad S. gave it an8:
"Twelve and Holding" would've benefited mightily had the filmmaker eschewed one of Chekhov's tenets to writing (actually, playwriting) and trusted his kids to do the heavy lifting without resorting to some unnecessary melodramatics. What happens, I think, runs contrary to the nature of Jacob (Conor Donovan)'s ever-changing relationship with the prisoner. "Twelve and Holding" is supposed to be about real kids, and the young actors do indeed deliver some great unaffected performances (especially Zoe Weizenbaum as Malee), but their stories feel scripted(especially Leonard's family life, which resembles a bad John Hughes film played as drama). Weizenbaum, however, holds "Twelve and Holding" together with an ethereal blend of poise and vulnerability. She steals the film, much like how Hermione does in the Harry Potter movies (Jacob's scar might be a reference to the young wizard, who like the surviving twin has two best friends, a boy and a girl).
Paul K. gave it a9:
I really enjoyed L.I.E., so my expectations for this film were pretty high and I was not disappointed. The child actors did a great job and I found the stories to be complex and different, but totally enthralling. My eyes were glued to the screen with anticipation. Definitely see this in the theater.
Frank O. gave it a10:
Outstanding movie; great story, superb direction and good acting. Michael Cuesta has surpassed himself after L.I.E. Follow the stories.
