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XX/XY
IFC Films


8.2

based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality, language, and brief drug use

Starring Mark Ruffalo, Kathleen Robertson, Maya Stange, Petra Wright, Kel O'Neill, Joshua Spafford, Zach Shaffer, and Joey Kern

A unique coming of age story about friends on the threshold of adulthood and how they breech that uneasy time, still struggling to maintain their true sense of being. (IFC Films)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Austin Chick
DIRECTED BY:	Austin Chick
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 29, 2003 Video: July 29, 2003 Theatrical: April 11, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	91 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, 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...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Emotional presence and a sophisticated understanding of commitment-phobia (as something other than a comedic punchline or an excuse for sex scenes) distinguishes this intense, contained drama, as does the unforced, sensual, and sensitive cinematography of Uta Briesewitz.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Ruffalo plays the character with that elusive charm he also revealed in "You Can Count on Me."

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue

Rarely does a fine movie like this have so awkward a title, or so off-putting an opening scene. But there is method in both these madnesses, and a searchingly intelligent and moving story to be told.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Doesn't necessarily offer anything new to the male/female dynamic, but it refuses to let Coles off the hook with an easy epiphany and a painless happily ever after.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The movie is really a sexy, emotionally true portrait of a handful of people wrestling with their impulses and trying to find their way to happiness.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

What makes XX/XY so engaging; it attempts to define love through broken characters who know neither themselves nor the meaning of love.

Film Threat Tim Merrill

It may appear clichéd in the telling, but Chick has no use for the glib irony and rampant pop-culture sampling which has already dated "Reality Bites" and its ilk.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Though initially off-putting, Chick's distanced direction pays off as XX/XY goes along.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Chick agreeably captures the feel and flow of on-the-move young professionals in New York.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

I was engaged by Chick's characters...But that point passed pretty soon after the credits rolled, and nothing has come back to haunt me since.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Each moment feels real, but the movie wears you out in some way. High naturalism is just as much a stylization as High Stylization. The groping nature of the conversations comes to feel as artificial as iambic pentameter.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

This unstinting look at growing up in the 1990s never pulls its punches. Bridging the angst of Generation X and the uncertainties of Generation Y, Chick reveals the romantic traumas, career screwups and self-absorbed fantasies of a group of eastern college grads.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Some moments in XX/XY ring true, and the honesty exposed is revelatory. But, like some relationships, this drama can be tough to endure.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

The cast is an impossibly beautiful bunch of actors who could hold your attention even if they spoke nothing but gibberish, which sometimes is the case in the pillow-talk dialogue provided by director/screenwriter Chick.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

An ongoing problem is the complete lack of chemistry between the leads.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Writer/director Austin Chick falls into the timeworn trap of making an immature, irritating film about immature, irritating characters.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

The young filmmaker clearly needs to experience a bit more of la vraie vie before his own observations can take in more than the clumsy romantic feints and parries of early adulthood.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

It's an overly familiar setup played out by overly familiar types but, curiously, what invests XX/XY with its tension is that there's no sense that Austin Chick, the film's capable young director and writer, knows what he feels about any of this.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A sour portrait of Gen X yuppies who settle for adult lives that appear at once soulless and overprivileged.

Empire Olly Richards

The dialogue is intelligent, but the humourlessness -- and the fact that most of the cast could use a good slap -- results less in involving drama and more in the viewer being held hostage in a 90-minute therapy session for the well-dressed and narcissistic.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A blandly filmed and subtext-heavy talkathon that wastes a game cast on a group of characters about whom it's almost impossible to care. If this were a cocktail party, you'd be back home with a good book already.

Washington Post Nicole Arthur

Anyone who's ever sat through a Neil LaBute film knows you can make a movie in which all the characters are unsympathetic, but this trio is uninteresting, to boot.

Village Voice Laura Sinagra

A movie that's two-thirds flashback (and could have been called "Ex, Ex, Ex, Why?").

New York Post Megan Lehmann

It's awkward, listless and fails to reach any sort of climax.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim C. gave it a 7:
I hope Mark Ruffalo doesn't recite lines in his sleep. Between You Can Count on Me and xx/yy, he must exclaim "Sam!" 1,000 times.

Josh R. gave it a 10:
Great writing, great acting, great directing! This movie is insightful, funny, and deeply moving.

Dwane R. gave it a 6:
The brilliant directing by Austin Chick, definitely an up-and-comer, compensates for the bad acting.

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XX/XY IFC Films

XX/XY
IFC Films