Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 36
  2. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. 100
    David Gordon Green's second film, is too subtle and perceptive, and knows too much about human nature, to treat their lack of sexual synchronicity as if it supplies a plot.
  2. It’s a movie made of moments, the antithesis of "plot-driven," but the sum of these moments is magnificent, the culmination of so many elements: acting, scripting, score (by locals Michael Linnen and David Wingo), and cinematography.
  3. It's thrillingly original, lyrical, and wise, and the filmmaker conveys the mutable intensity of young love with the authoritative originality of an important filmmaker.
  4. Remarkable for its genuine, unpretentious lyricism.
  5. Reviewed by: David Ansen
    90
    The best movie of the last 20 years about young people in love is 1989’s.
  6. Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    90
    Green shoots his groping lovers in the art-film style -- long takes, static frame -- but his tone isn't at all minimalist; it's achingly, breathtakingly romantic, like the old Hollywood love stories his kids have never seen.
  7. Like his (David Gordon Green's) debut feature of three years ago, the exquisite "George Washington," this new one has my heart, and I think it will have yours.
  8. The movie may take five extra minutes to end and could do with one less sunset but . . . other than that it's damned near perfect.
  9. Reviewed by: Staff (not credited)
    90
    This is a lyrical heartbreaker that skirts most love-story cliches and is brave enough to be as inconclusive as the characters.
  10. The verdict? Green passes with flying colours -- his is a huge and hugely impressive talent.
  11. It's a movie of deft impressions and telling human moments. Whether or not those impressions and moments add up to anything is almost beside the point.
  12. Green treats his people with affectionate knowledge, untinged with patronizing. And he sees them in ways that are free of cinematic cliché.
  13. 75
    A small movie about big emotions, with Green capturing the rush of love and sting of heartbreak with great vividness.
  14. 75
    Precious without ever being cloying, All the Real Girls is a wise, delicate and immensely touching romance.
  15. Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    75
    It's the little things that resonate in this tender and sincere tale of first love.
  16. Smartly acted, achingly simple love story.
  17. A movie that eliminates Hollywood gloss and pop cliches -- and in their place offers an honest look at young love and its pitfalls.
  18. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    75
    Girls isn't fabulous, but you do feel its characters really have connected.
  19. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    Green unquestionably has a rare, intermittent knack for rapture.
  20. 75
    Slow moving and low key, and, when the final credits roll, you feel like you have spent nearly two hours in the company of a few real people, not constructs of a writer's imagination.
  21. 75
    The performers are tremendous, particularly Deschanel, who can travel to the end of an emotional tether and then suggest the mysteries of change and growth that lie beyond.
  22. Wandering, atmospheric, episodic yet strangely appealing story of love.
  23. 70
    Green is essentially a poet of moods rather than a teller of tales, and he adorns the movie with stylistic touches influenced by Terrence Malick.
  24. 70
    Deschanel and Schneider--who both give rich, funny performances--and everyone around them have inner lives that don't always translate into words. When they speak, it's usually in dialogue halfway between poetry and inarticulate fumbling.
  25. It's a sad love story that's insightful at its core and indulgent around the edges, a film whose instincts are impeccable when focusing on that romance but less than compelling when it wanders elsewhere.
  26. Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    The movie is very beautiful, with a shambling pace and slow fade-ins and fade-outs; and when it works there's a tension between its characters' scuffling small-talk and its majestically ruined rural setting.
  27. Lurches toward an offbeat honesty but it also very nearly crashes in its quirkiness.
  28. 60
    The sad thing about All the Real Girls is that Green seems more in love with his perceived unconventionality than he does with his characters. If that's not a town without pity, I don't know what is.
  29. The main characters are unremarkable, and most of the acting is dull.
  30. The central relationship here is curious but not engaging, except for the pleasure of watching Deschanel, making All the Real Girls just a filmmaker's exercise in impressionistic style and mood.
  31. 50
    Aspires to a backwoods North Carolina Woody Allen quality that it often comes close to achieving. But sadly it’s just never quite funny, touching or insightful enough.
  32. There’s a ravishing aliveness to the spacious imagery; at least the clichés have room to roam free.
  33. 50
    This earnest love story is borderline insufferable, and yet there are moments that, in their bold incoherence, have a startling emotional truth.
  34. Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    50
    Director David Gordon Green has created some fresh, penetrating, beautifully drawn scenes of one-on-one intimacy…But some of what surrounds these interludes is variously misguided, fuzzy and borderline pretentious.
  35. Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    40
    The always charming Deschanel manages to rise above most of the film's logy pretensions, but the usually excellent Clarkson isn't so lucky.
  36. 40
    Sadly, the men here come across as whiny and infantile, and Green is dangerously keen to stress their retardation. [17 & 24 2003, p.204]
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 14
  3. Negative: 1 out of 14
  1. All The Real Girls has a horrible script with many instances of awkward dialogue, but that does not keep it from being a great film. What makes this film work is that it feels unbelievably real and it does not follow in the steps of an average romance film. It has a simple plot, but it actually feels like you are watching a true relationship and not the ideal "true love" story seen in a Nicholas Sparks movie. There are some truly emotional moments that just gave me goosebumps as I solely watched two individuals talking. Superb acting and immense emotion make this raw film great and a hidden gem in Independent film. Full Review »
  2. TomK
    2
    Unless you like dialog that at times makes no sense at all and are into symbolism and super art house cliche then do not see this movie. It was a chore to get through. Full Review »
  3. WilliamM
    10
    This film is REAL! And Zooey Deschanel is one of the reasons it is real. She is someone who cannot be other than real. Look at some of her interiews on YouTube and you'll see the same, honest, unabashedly genuine young woman. It is refreshing to see an actor who really is who they appear to be--not just a "poser." By "poser" I'm not referring to "character acting"--acting in which the actor's personality is completely abandoned and they assume an entirely different psyche. For me, contrary to the commonly accepted definition, inherent in character acting IS a residual element of the actor's personality, but only if that residual element is a reflection of an, open, honest, REAL personality--one the actor is both comfortable with and confident in. Zooey Deschanel, if you will, is destined to be recognized as one of the rare actors who successfully combines the accepted definitions of personality and character acting. What makes this film really great, however, is all of its elements-- the small town, North Carolina setting, the rest of the acting, the screenplay and the cinematography--being just as unpretentious as Ms. Deschanel is in playing one of the leading roles. Full Review »