Advanced Search Beta »
Basic Search Fields
The Exploding Girl
Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 15
  3. Negative: 1 out of 15
view
per page
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    89
    Kazan appears in every scene of The Exploding Girl's perfectly paced 80 minutes, and you'd miss her if she ducked out for even a moment.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    Gray has an artful, understated way of conveying what's going ?on inside, often simply by focusing his camera on Kazan.
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    80
    This quietly poetic little gem contains many beautiful things, not least of which is leading lady Zoe Kazan, who lets every scene billow and swirl around her effortlessly.
  4. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    80
    When you have an actor as suggestive as Kazan, swallowing up the lens with allure and complexity, your writer-director becomes superfluous.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    80
    Small scale though it is, this is a film that knows what it wants to do and has thought out exactly how to go about doing it. The same must be said about the luminous nature of Kazan's performance, which won best actress last year at the Tribeca Film Festival.
  6. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    Despite its title, The Exploding Girl is an oddly tranquil experience.
  7. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: M. E. Russell
    75
    Kazan has a gift for letting you see her think, even when she's perfectly still; the film's title refers to the ferocious trauma happening between Ivy's ears and her silent struggle to keep it in check.
  8. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    75
    There isn't much to The Exploding Girl, but it's blessedly compact, and owns its no-big-deal-ness.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Neil Young
    70
    The emotional detonations prove minor but movingly resonant in The Exploding Girl, an indie character study built four-square round Zoe Kazan's persuasive performance.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Karina Longworth
    70
    Girl is narratively slight, but aesthetically and psychologically complex. At times, it feels more like an illustrated audio collage than a movie.
  11. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    Those who can hang on through the mumblecore-ish narrative languor of the nicely photographed The Exploding Girl will savor a very talented actress' sensitive portrait of youthful awkwardness.
  12. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    50
    The Exploding Girl can also make you feel bad about wishing that she were just a little more interesting.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    50
    Both comely leads offer engaging presences, and there's some pretty imagery, shot adequately on HD, but it's all so slight and featherweight one viewer sneezing could blow it all offscreen.
  14. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: John P. McCarthy
    40
    Further exploration of this psychological question might have made for a more substantial, less enervating artfilm. One less liable to be experienced as an approximation of cinematic waterboarding.
  15. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    25
    There is no hope on the horizon for movies as leaden as The Exploding Girl.
prev next
Page:
  • 1