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Girl, Interrupted
Metascore
51 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 32 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 32
  3. Negative: 4 out of 32
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    Shrewd, tough, and lively -- a junior-league "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
  2. TNT RoughCut
    Reviewed by: Sarah Raskin
    80
    Despite uneven pacing -- Girl, Interrupted deftly collapses then and now to create a very personal film filled with heart-tugs and surprisingly funny moments.
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Phoebe Flowers
    75
    A rare movie, one that manages to be both quiet and electrifying, touching and unnerving. But it is not a great movie, even though its stars deserve for it to be.
    All this publication's reviews
  4. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    The performances in Girl, Interrupted resonate, but the movie does not.
    All this critic's reviews
  5. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    75
    In Winona Ryder's case, Girl Interrupted is a showcase in which her brittle, angry portrait shows she has graduated from ingenue to actress.
    All this critic's reviews
  6. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    They have turned a brief, appealing, honest autobiography by Susanna Kaysen into a long, appealing, rather dishonest film.
  7. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    75
    Fabulously acted throughout.
    All this critic's reviews
  8. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    Top performances keep true-life mental ward tale Girl, Interrupted soaring, despite a script that frequently drifts into genre clichés.
  9. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    67
    Jolie's explosive performance surpasses all expectations and renders the film a veritable must-see.
  10. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    67
    For all its somber heaviness and reverential gravity, it never quite pulls all the elements and themes together.
  11. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    63
    The story, having failed to provide itself with character conflicts that can be resolved with drama, turns to melodrama instead.
  12. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    63
    The movie -- even though it's based on real events -- seems unsatisfying and unconvincing.
    All this critic's reviews
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Foreman
    63
    It's an odd mixture of an unsentimental, darkly humorous take on mental illness with the usual Hollywood loony-bin cliches.
    All this critic's reviews
  14. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    63
    There's too much control in it and not enough danger.
  15. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    60
    There's very little plot, and director Mangold's attempts to make a connection between the social confusion of the '60s and Susanna's inner turmoil don't really work.
  16. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    60
    Barring one dreadfully trumped-up climactic scene, they've managed to avoid the usual asylum-movie cliches.
    All this critic's reviews
  17. Variety
    Reviewed by: Emanuel Levy
    60
    A solid central performance by Winona Ryder and a captivating wild turn by Angelina Jolie in the yarn's flashiest role.
  18. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    50
    Unusual in that it spotlights a common but largely unsung variety of teenage female angst.
  19. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Stack
    50
    A sappy, muddled production that misses the jarring tone of the autobiographical book by Susanna Kaysen on which it is based.
  20. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Susan Wloszczyna
    50
    Ryder's commitment is impressive. If her movie only had her courage.
  21. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    50
    Always worth watching when Angelina Jolie steps to the fore. Somehow, she takes a thuddingly ill-conceived role and turns it into gold
  22. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Abby McGanney Nolan
    50
    Contains some nicely restrained turns, like Clea Duval as Kaysen's Oz-obsessed roommate, but mainly it's a showcase for Ryder's winsome victim
  23. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Peter Brunette
    50
    An excellent coming-of-age story that is, for once, and very happily, focussed on a teenage girl.
  24. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    A small, intense period piece with a tough-love attitude toward lazy, self-indulgent little girls flirting with madness.
  25. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    48
    Mangold ultimately delivers the same film any number of other Hollywood journeyman could've made from this material, and the results are predictable and stale.
    All this critic's reviews
  26. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    40
    Mangold can't escape the fact that instead of someone in the throes of a genuine existential crisis, his star comes off as -- to paraphrase nurse Whoopi Goldberg -- a spoiled, lazy girl who's afraid to face life.
  27. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Jean Oppenheimer
    40
    Doesn't come close to matching the emotional depth and power of Frank Perry's 1962 "David and Lisa," the most involving and affecting film I've ever seen about teenagers and mental illness.
  28. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    40
    Tired conventions, hoary themes and obvious conclusions.
  29. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Gemma Files
    30
    Ends up suffering from the classic diseases of book-to-film adaptation: triteness, overreliance of narration, and a general "need" to impose classic dramatic structure on what is not a particularly dramatic narrative.
    All this critic's reviews
  30. Film.com
    Reviewed by: John Hartl
    30
    Mangold ultimately can't displace memories of "An Angel at My Table," "Lilith," "The Snake Pit," "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" and other, stronger accounts of young women placed in mental institutions.
  31. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    25
    For a movie about people with hugely complicated inner lives, this sadly unconvincing drama stays resolutely on the surface, rarely hinting at anything like an insight or idea.
  32. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    25
    It's as if the book itself has been locked up and institutionalized, forced to conform to a system that all but obliterates its own unique personality.
    All this critic's reviews
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 36 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 23
  3. Negative: 2 out of 23
  1. TTW107
    8
    Best role for Jolie, hands down. I'm more than shocked that the metacritic average is 51, it kind of pisses me off actually. I was glued to the tv set from start to finish. But I am one to drop everything out of my mind and get lost in a movie. A must watch in my book.… Full Review »
  2. rotku
    6
    Not a bad movie although Jolies character is far more interesting than Ryders and this unsettles the fluidity of the movie. Overall it a watchable and at times enjoyable movie but is ends up as a second rate One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest… Full Review »
  3. jimmytancredi
    7
    It’s by all means a good film with great performances and a storyline that can really grab our attention. But for me, the strongest point of the movie is still showing a different side and very interesting from the "madness": Instead of focusing on a character with clear problems (in the style, "Beautiful Mind", "Shutter Island" or "Awakenings"), what you see is a social side, collectively called the "insanity". It is this differentiated approach that allows the construction of a plot so engaging. And then, instead of having a single girl being interrupted by recurring dreams and memories, we have a whole group of girls with their youth and trimmed expectations for the drugs, isolation, fear of asking for help, and finally the "female - alpha" oppressive (lackness for a better term). And if the disease is collective, so is the cure. Only through the interaction between patients is true that the prospects of healing begin to emerge. Who hasn’t seen a group of healthy young friends having fun at the bowling alley? And genuinely defending the ice cream store? And who can doubt that the moment of maximum transparency between them, at the end of the film, was the catalyst to the improvement of them all over the 70 years? Another unique approach of the film and just so important, is the break with that cliché: "the institution and society doesn’t want the cure of patients. "What there is, in fact, is a combination of several types of professionals, some more than others prepared, some more some less known, some more and others less willing to help. The common nurses, nurse John, psychiatrist and nurse Valerie Wick have different ways of acting and this influences sometimes negatively, sometimes positively recovery of patients. And this is no surprise, is a reflection of the society itself, composed of untrained people (Suzanna 's parents), genuinely concerned (the driver) or even "backers" of madness (as the father of Daisy). Finally, it is interesting to notice that Brittany Murphy committed suicide, as did Wynona Rider in one of her first speeches, interrupted her career and now - with Black Swan - is already showing signs that she’s giving a comeback, Angelina Jolie is one of the most influential women in the world and been talking some truths (if anyone has read her article in "the Economist") and Elisabeth Moss to come from a family passionate about music (like her character Polly).… Full Review »
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