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Metascore
52 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: Henry Barthes is a substitute teacher who conveniently avoids any emotional connections by never staying anywhere long enough to form a bond with either his students or colleagues. A lost soul grappling with a troubled past, Henry finds himself at a public school where an apathetic student body has created a frustrated, burned-out administration. Inadvertently becoming a role model to his students, while also bonding with a runaway teen who is just as lost as he is, Henry finds that he’s not alone in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly vicious and loveless world. (Tribeca Film)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 20
  3. Negative: 6 out of 20
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Anthony Lane
    Mar 12, 2012
    80
    It is the greatest biblio-climax of any film since "Fahrenheit 451," although Truffaut's prayer was that reading might yet survive calamity and carry the torch of the civilized. Detachment snufffs out that faith; books it warns us, are the first thing to go. [19 March 2012, p.91]
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  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    May 17, 2012
    60
    The shriller its didacticism, the more unhinged it becomes. But even at its most ludicrous - when it is shouting into your ear - its sheer audacity grabs your attention.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Mar 16, 2012
    38
    [Director Kaye's] dedication to the material is admirable, but his tactic of following one dismal development with an even more depressing one comes to seem monotonous and pointless.

See all 20 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. ReviewCritic
    7
    Adrien Brody's performance is very good, and the movie ends up being an inspiring drama.
    • 3 of 3 users said yes

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