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The Young Unknowns
Metascore
43 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 15
  3. Negative: 5 out of 15
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    There's a shocking, casual quality to the self-destructive narcissism of the pretty, petty kids squandering their lives in the L.A. sunshine of The Young Unknowns.
  2. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    80
    It isn't a masterpiece; there are occasional clunkers in Jelski's dialogue (adapted from a play by Wolfgang Bauer) and the acting, although superior to maybe 85 percent of Hollywood movies, is a little uneven.
  3. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Chris Parcellin
    60
    The film wants to be a revealing character study of aimless Hollywood wannabes, but the story is just not compelling enough to make the viewer care.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ed Park
    60
    Numbing but effective debut.
  5. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    50
    Jelski's dialogue is razor sharp and she got a terrific performance from the relatively inexperienced Gummersall, who runs a gamut of emotions and holds the screen like a seasoned star.
  6. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    50
    A skin-deep examination of a shallow lifestyle that draws a conclusion so logical it's almost superfluous.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    50
    Jelski is a skilled filmmaker, and her sense of reality is so uncompromising that, even when tempered by a touch of dark humor, her film is a grim, hard-to-take business.
  8. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Kim Morgan
    42
    The Young Unknowns flails about, sometimes realistically, but the cumulative effect is "so what?" These characters may be young and unknown, but they feel old and in the way.
  9. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    40
    Jelski's screenplay, a finalist in the fiercely competitive Walt Disney Screenwriting Fellowship competition, is repetitive and stagy.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dave Kehr
    40
    Held back throughout by the self-conscious, overly explicit dialogue and the judgmental, moralistic undertone that throbs throughout.
  11. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Mark Olsen
    30
    By the time a not terribly surprising tragedy hits and these crazy kids get theirs, the movie doesn't so much end as finally keel over.
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Hank Sartin
    30
    This bleak little drama started as a play, and I'd bet that even onstage it felt contrived.
  13. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Kevin M. Williams
    25
    There is nothing to redeem this movie, and no real reason to see it.
  14. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Edward Guthmann
    25
    Dredges up every cliche about druggy, obnoxious dreamers on the fringes of Hollywood and assumes that said cliches have the power to shock and surprise.
  15. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    20
    A strident, painfully repetitive and hopelessly stage-bound drama about self-indulgent twentysomethings on the fringes of the L.A. film scene.
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