Kids in America
Metascore
38 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 12
  3. Negative: 4 out of 12
view
per page
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Once in a blue moon a movie escapes the shackles of its genre and does what it really wants to do. Kids in America is a movie like that. It breaks out of Hollywood jail.
  2. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    50
    Overall, though, you get the exhausting feeling that Stolberg is desperately trying to prove how cool he is. And didn't you see enough of that in high school?
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    40
    Well-meaning but woefully unconvincing.
  4. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tim Grierson
    40
    A trite teen comedy burdened with lofty aspirations of rallying adolescent audiences to political action.
  5. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Drew Tillman
    40
    Nicole Richie loyalists are sure to be confounded (along with the rest of us) by Kids in America, the weirdly anti-Bush high school "satire" that is also Richie's big-screen debut.
  6. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Melissa Levine
    40
    Has its heart in the right place, but its head seems to be lost in a swirling maelstrom of teen movies that have come before.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    40
    Because Kids in America can't decide whether it wants to be a stock teenage comedy or something more, it ends up stranded in the middle of nowhere.
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    40
    Josh Stolberg launches a scalding attack on the stodgy conservatism of the American public school system, only to end up stacking the deck in egregiously smirky and simple-minded ways.
  9. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    38
    Filmmaker Josh Stolberg claims to have been inspired by real-life events, but mostly he ineptly rips off other movies and wastes a cast that includes Rosanna Arquette, Adam Arkin and Elizabeth Perkins.
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Angel Cohn
    38
    The cast is eclectic and talented, but their roles are two-dimensional and the is-it-or-isn't-it-satirical? tone ensures that their performances never seem properly pitched.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Crust
    30
    A comedy so inane and tedious that it buries its premise and its various worthy points under too many arch and improbable shenanigans and endless dialogue, much of it seriously under-inspired.
  12. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Jennifer Frey
    30
    Short on real teenage angst and emotion, the film is long on caricatures.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11
  1. RajSing
    10
    This is one of my all time favourite movies. I have been searching for a copy of it the last 5 years and finally found it on YouTube this afternoon after it was allowed to be played in Malaysia. A real movie, which presents real issues. And has a very teen spirit air to it. I would vouch to have this movie screened in high schools around the world. The issues raised in this movie: about teenagers having their own voice is driven in so clearly yet it doesn't bore the teenagers who make up its main target audience.… Full Review »
  2. JacobR.
    10
    One of the best movies I've ever seen. Wondering why this and strange wilderness are rated so low.
  3. CalibanW.
    1
    A movie pretending to be something it never achieves leaves the viewers wondering my they are watching it at all. Stereotypical and trendy, yawn.
See all user reviews »