Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
Palindromes
User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 24
  3. Negative: 5 out of 24

Review this movie

  1. Your Score
    10 out of 10
    Rate this:
    out of 10
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling

  3. Characters remaining: 5000 out of 5000

view
per page
  1. ConsciousEntity
    Apr 30, 2005
    0
    Solondz is a cynic who believes that life is absurd. To support such a view, he must undermine all positive conceptions of morality. In Palindromes, Solondz accomplishes this by depicting persons on *both* sides of one of the great moral debates of our day (pro-choice vs. pro-life), as variously insensiitive, toxic, murderous and above all deluded. Thus, by means of a generalization that the director clearly intends, the entire film amounts to an extended ad hominem argument against any and all conceptions of moral purpose. It is easy to see why this director has so often been accused of misanthropy, but to me it seems that his attacks upon humanity are just a means to his more fundamental purpose of declaring life itself to be without meaning.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. TodK
    May 10, 2005
    9
    This is bold, brilliant, in-your-face post modern film about family, love, violence, compassion, selfishness and loss. It is (intentionally) hard to watch and easy to hate on many levels. Many people will hate it on a content level and others on a story-telling level but when is bold, harsh statement ever well received? It is a much smaller film than Happiness and more focused than Dollhouse. Like all of his movies you will laugh and hate yourself for it but the end of film when all the scattered pieces come together and you realize that this is the proverbial with a story with 1,000 faces on it I found it chilling.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. BenjaminBunny
    May 6, 2005
    1
    Happiness was a masterpiece because it depicted the lowest form of human life with a small amount of compassion and plenty of cartoonish (but dark) humor. The characters in this film are even more vile, putrid and unsympathetic, and save for a couple scenes involving dance sequences to Christian pop, nothing is remotely funny--the premise is just too inhuman and disturbing to do anything but evoke disgust. A terrible, heartless and sickening film.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. TannerC.
    Apr 14, 2005
    9
    You can talk about it whether you hate it or love it. Thank god for that.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. WayneB.
    Apr 23, 2005
    8
    A film to ink block test one's misanthropy curve. I loved it!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. Michael
    Apr 25, 2005
    0
    An unbelievably bad movie. From a diredtor who is so overrated it defites desciption.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. SharonS.
    Jun 28, 2005
    2
    Although there was much thought on a young girl wanting to have a baby at the age of 13- the young girl Aviva obviously was not taught any consequences to her choices which in reality there is. Secondly, at the age of 13 most girls do discuss the issue of wants and needs with her peers before acting out. So I found the movie offered no advice, and encouraged the choice of being premiscuous. A good parallel would have been the movie called monster. The choices one makes leads to the same ending-trouble. The movie confuses love with the act of sex in seeking acceptance of one self.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. M.Daye
    Feb 4, 2006
    10
    Fiendishly bittersweet, Palindromes will have you both laughing at and feeling for the most sensitive of characters.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. SpongeeeSq.Pants
    Apr 19, 2005
    8
    Entertaining! great style and acting. very funny! go watch if you know anything about good movies.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. DamonC
    Apr 29, 2005
    6
    The would-be-libertarian and wannabe-misogynist that I am, I wanted to like the movie - no, I wanted to love the movie, as much as I loved Happiness and Dollhouse. But no, I didn't like it that much, and this is why. First, while I'm intrigued by the multiple portrayals of Aviva, I left asking myself: why? What did it add to the film beyond the gimmick? Was it to suggest that having babies is the universal desire of ALL women? I'm not sure, and the film certainly doesn't answer that question. Secondly, was there anything else more to palindromes than the spelling of Aviva (and perhaps Otto)? Can the movie be viewed back to front to arrive at the same result? Perhaps, but how would one ever know? So I walked out of the theater with all these vexing questions, and after thinking about them for a few days, I still had nothing to show. Ultimately, Palindromes has the usual mordant humor and way-out-there situations, but it casts light on human condition as much as a baby doll with a bottle stuck up her ass would, or on second thought, a little less.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. ChadS.
    May 11, 2005
    9
    The Sunshine Singers, the singing group led by Mama Sunshine (is Solondz making fun of Mia Farrow?), perform Contemporary Christian songs which made me laugh, but it's not them; it's the genre itself. "Normal" people would sound and look like doofuses performing the Sunshine Singers' repetoire. Solondz is often accused of hating his characters, but in this instance, his hatred is saved for the moviegoers who have pasts that correspond to these "flawed" children. But here is the kicker. The people who look after these throwaway children are insane. What is Solondz inferring? "Palindromes", in typical Todd Solondz fashion, loves nobody. Apart from being merciless on both sides of the abortion front, this film takes a barb at colorblind casting. Here again, we revel in Solondz's moral complexity. Sharon Wilkins (Mama Sunshine Aviva) is simultaneously ridiculous and convincing playing white jailbait. Wilkins is no more jarring than say, Denzel Washington as Julius Caesar on Broadway. "Palindromes" doesn't want to entertain, it wants to provoke, and since most films don't do the former, judge this film on its ability to do the latter.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. RONGIU
    Apr 2, 2012
    9
    Sorry, translation Italian / English mechanics. It 'a film emotionally powerful, indeed, very strong. The palindrome Solondziana script leaves the viewer sensoramiche endless possibilities. There are EIGHT actors for the character of AVIVA, but not the number of actors who are interested, since the possibility of empathic contact chance to hear "from within, in the making" / people around me; minimizing the risk of confusion un'incidentale. For this reason, Palindromes goes "observed". So I understand. All of us, I think, if we look at our life, its most significant events, we try to draw, memory after memory, an emotional map. Inevitably the contents of this map contains words that express feelings, engaging, such as desire, friendship, love, passion, possession, nausea, joy, anger, enthusiasm, positivity, nervousness, impatience, disappointment, anger, revenge, despair, hatred / and so on. Palindromes is all about. Palindrome, is the unchanging part of us, like it or not. And 'This is the border, this is the extreme boundary, whether genetic, psychological wish that each of us must face in order to learn to accept it. But, everything in us that is blank, inert, may undergo changes, albeit small? The films of Todd Solondz, "guts" of society, its conventions and beliefs, and does so with a director and a screenplay that follow a chromatic scale psychological changes, nuanced and saturations. The viewer, the task of "tuning" not at all simple. Luckiness!… Expand
prev next
Page:
  • 1

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 36
  3. Negative: 9 out of 36
  1. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Eric Campos
    80
    You love Solondz's films, you'll love Palindromes. That same twisted sense of humor is there and certain scenes go on for an uncomfortably long time, but you wind up savoring the discomfort.
    Read full review
  2. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    30
    Mostly stiff acting and intentionally flat, banal dialogue.
    Read full review
  3. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    38
    A shallow, transparent satire/social commentary, Palindromes lives and dies on a gimmick.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »