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Tumbleweeds
Metascore
75 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    Rarely have two actresses been so effortless in their intimacy.
  2. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    90
    McTeer and Brown make magic ina film that is wonderfully funny, touching and vital.
    All this critic's reviews
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    88
    You'll care what happens in this film with more than enough freshness and originality to avoid succumbing to girls-on-the-run cliches.
  4. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    88
    McTeer delivers a messily cheerful performance as a woman who thinks nothing of brushing her teeth with beer.
  5. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    80
    Though similar thematically to "Anywhere But Here," Tumbleweeds is a breath of fresh air that busts the cliches of dysfunctional mother-daughter sagas.
  6. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    80
    McTeer's performance -- one of the best you'll see this year -- makes you realize anew how rare it is to see a female character this complex in American film.
  7. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jessica Winter
    80
    One of the refreshing aspects of the slight, flawed Tumbleweeds is that it creates a world inhabited by recognizable people.
  8. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    80
    The most liberating thing about this funny, touching, heartfelt little movie is the way it defies the rules and, in the end, begins to set its heroines free. They've earned it.
  9. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    80
    At the center of the film is one of the year's best performances -- that of British actress Janet McTeer .
  10. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Henry Cabot Beck
    80
    A minimum of fuss and a welcome lack of clichés. For these things alone, Tumbleweeds should be not only praised, but seen
  11. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Gemma Files
    80
    This is independent acting (and movie-making) at its best -- true, tight, anything but trite.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    One of those wonderful, deeply personal pictures that pop up every now and then to lift your spirits.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    There are many moments when what is on the screen stops looking like acting and becomes life itself, and you're watching real people change and grow before your eyes.
  14. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    Tumbleweeds is gorgeously nuanced.
  15. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    80
    We have this movie--full of acceptant, sidelong glances at human quirkiness--to delight us.
  16. Variety
    Reviewed by: Glenn Lovell
    80
    Has what it takes to becomes the year's first heartfelt sleeper.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    80
    Janet McTeer doesn't imitate Mary Jo Walker, and she doesn't act her. She becomes her. It's almost spooky.
  18. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Movies like Tumbleweeds exist in the details, not the outcome. Even a happy ending, we suspect, would be temporary. We don't mind, since the characters have been intriguing to know and easy to care about.
  19. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    75
    This smart, hardscrabble, very likable film has a heart and spirit all its own: a rollicking, earthy flair and lusty intelligence.
  20. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    The story is as rambling as the characters, but superb acting by McTeer and Brown goes a long way toward redeeming it.
  21. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    75
    Lives up to its advance buzz as a showcase for some wonderful performances and a sharp storytelling eye by director Gavin O'Connor.
  22. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    What keeps these mother-daughter tumbleweeds from drifting right out of consciousness is the unique rapport between the actresses.
  23. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Stack
    75
    Bound by mother-daughter ties that are complex, touching, ultimately so powerful they yield the kind of tearful joy rarely experienced at the movies.
  24. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    75
    An alt-country paean to libidinal mothers and the little girls who clean up the mess.
  25. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    The film isn't quite as striking as its star, but it's just as honest.
  26. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    75
    The humor isn't as sharp as it should be, and the story isn't as tight as it could be.
  27. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Paula Nechak
    75
    An indie film that was lavishly praised and won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, rolls along in the well-rutted, dusty tire tracks of other mother-and-daughter road trip
  28. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    70
    A deeply and disappointingly conventional picture masquerading as a free-spirited one.
  29. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    Worth seeing for McTeer's touching, funny and richly detailed performance, which should put her on the map in Hollywood.
  30. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    No, it isn't the slick and unfocused "Anywhere but Here," where mom and daughter choose Beverly Hills. Instead, it's the more modest and in most cases preferable Tumbleweeds.
  31. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    This far more modest production is a much more interesting film (than "Anywhere But Here").
  32. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Mark Peranson
    60
    Capable, if slightly show-offy, performances by McTeer and Brown give this Sundance favorite a little sparkle.
  33. TNT RoughCut
    Reviewed by: Sara Raskin
    60
    Tumbleweeds has a certain hopefulness about it. "Anywhere But Here," on the other hand, gives you nowhere to go.
    All this publication's reviews
  34. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    50
    It's a wonderfully nuanced performance in an otherwise un-nuanced narrative.
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