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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Broken English

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Romance
Written by: Zoe R. Cassavetes
Directed by: Zoe R. Cassavetes
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 22, 2007
DVD: August 21, 2007
Running Time: 97 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content, brief drug use and language
Starring Parker Posey, Melvil Poupaud, Drea de Matteo, Justin Theroux, Gena Rowlands, Peter Bogdanovich, Tim Guinee, and Josh Hamilton
In a startling mature and nuanced performance, Parker Posey plays Nora Wilder, a thirty-something Manhattanite who is cynical about love and relationships, in this astute collaboration with first-time writer/director Zoe Cassavetes. (Magnolia Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Broken English takes 30 minutes to do what most romantic comedies manage with a simple montage. That's a good thing, by the way.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The movie needs more incident and complication; it's modest to a fault.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
As a director, Cassavetes is a keen observer of character and social interaction but not yet much of a visual stylist (which might also describe the improvisational dramas made by her actor/director father, John).
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
A pleasantly disposable romantic comedy starring the once and future indie-queen Parker Posey.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
As charmingly verklemmt New York women with bad luck in men and good luck in apartments go, Nora Wilder in Broken English has all the breaks.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
A well-acted, smartly directed film that’s depressing because it could have amounted to so much more. It departs from the studio-financed romantic-comedy template in just one, unfortunately fatal respect: it makes a point of pride out of rejecting cliché, then swoons into its embrace.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Demonstrating that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, the screenwriter-director has delivered a well-observed film boasting highly realistic performances and dialogue, if not plot elements. But it's Posey's fascinating portrayal of a thirtysomething Manhattan single woman looking for love that lifts the film above its "Sex and the City" predictabilities.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
A wry, charming romance about a New York woman who has given up hope of finding love.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
A pitch-perfect lead performance by Parker Posey and debuting feature writer-helmer Zoe Cassavetes' deft, low-key approach raise Broken English a couple notches above the usual run of lonely-single-woman-seeking-romance-in-the-big-city yarns.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
There's not a lot of story here and the dialogue lacks the snap one usually gets in New York stories of affluent young adults, but the characters have an authenticity.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
This movie belongs to Posey, and her nuanced performance makes Broken English a worthy adventure.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Both neurotic and endearing, it's so carefully accessorized you may not even notice that, at heart, it's a standard-issue romantic comedy.
Read Full Review >Premiere Glenn Kenny
It's the stuff of countless advice columns, daytime talk shows, sitcoms, romantic comedies. Quite frankly, it's tired. What makes a difference here -- although really not enough of one -- is the people.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
It's the kind of film that will resonate only with a tiny fraction of the available audience. Unless a viewer's age and situation mirrors that of Posey's Nora Wilder, odds are that this movie will generate a sense of déjà vu.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
For all its impeccable indie credibility, writer-director Zoe Cassavetes' bittersweet romance is little more than a hipster chick flick in which the same old smart women make the usual foolish choices.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Posey is a delight throughout, and Zoe Cassavetes is clearly a filmmaker to watch.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Cassavetes, who wrote the script, proves her skill with actors in this woozy push-and-pull of slurred compliments and shaky hopes for whatever lies beyond the next day.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
There is a very good movie named "Before Sunset" that begins more or less where this one ends. Which tells you something right there.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A conventional New York-lonely hearts story made watchable by one element and one element only: Parker Posey.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Jamie Tipps
What began as an interesting character study ends in convention, offering only the most clichéd platitudes in summation. You can't find true love until you love yourself? Hasn't Dr. Phil been telling us that for years?
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michelle Orange
Posey remains touching as the woman with happiness in sight but bewilderingly out of reach.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Despite its schizophrenic nature and often disagreeable characteristics, Broken English has flashes of something. You might say it has an integrity of purpose, if not of execution.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Given the gift of Posey at the peak of her powers, Cassavetes squanders her star in low-key, go-nowhere conversations, shot without flair and drained of any improvisatory energy.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
Broken English doesn't break any code or offer original insights on the subject. But there's a spark whenever Posey and Poupaud are together.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Almost nothing that's said or done here is convincing. And the energy is set at near-coma level.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
How Posey's neurotic, self-destructive heroine finds her way to healing is the core of this generous film, whose moral is that happiness can't begin unless you're open to its possibility.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
If Broken English occasionally falls prey to a bit too much self-conscious lethargy, it's still a welcome chance to see Posey at her flighty, edgy best.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ellen H. gave it an8:
Maybe it's been done a million times before and the ending feels like the biggest surrender to sentimentality, but that doesn't cancel out all the good that came before: outstanding and truthful performances, story and characters that resonate universally, nuance, and compassionate storytelling. This movie is like a small compact mirror being held up in front of one woman's life, but anyone looking can draw comparisons to their own.
sarah s gave it an8:
Broken English is a chick-flick, but it's a good one. Posey is gut-wrenchingly believable as an insecure & neurotic 30something, the art direction is fantastic. But there is a key moment in this film when it stops being just chick-flick stuff and starts becoming something more magic. I dont think I would have enjoyed it as much if it weren't for that. I will definitely keep an eye out for KC's flicks.
Mel S gave it a6:
Sad. Good acting, but slow and sad.
Aliya A gave it a10:
Awesome realistic movie.. had a touch of emotion, anxiety, artistic.. great acting!
Marc K gave it an8:
Well-directed, well-written, well-acted. Maybe I'm just in the tiny sliver of people that James Berdanelli says will really like this movie. Parker Posey is pitch-perfect in a very soulful film.
Chad S gave it a7:
This is not "Manhattan". This is not "Before Sunset"(or "...Sunrise"). "Broken English" makes reference to both; in particular, the pair of Richard Linklater films that made Julie Delpy look like the most desirable woman on the planet. If "Before Sunset" was a conventional Hollywood pic, copying the ending would make sense, since "Broken English" isn't a formulaic romantic comedy. But neither was the Ethan Hawke vehicle. Both movies are "art films". Nobody swoons in Paris. More amusingly, Nora and her friend Audrey(Drea de Matteo) act as couriers, but a Jean Pierre-Melville film fails to materialize. The music is distinctly dissonant. There's no jazzy or cafe-inspired score. "Broken English" missteps when it draws attention to the Linklater film because this prosaic romp through France pales in comparison. On its own terms, however, "Broken English" is a modest success. It's an anti-romantic movie about finding love...with a romantic ending.
Joep K. gave it a1:
Bad movie, none of the actors were convincing, no humor and the story was as simple as any chickflick could possibly be. Probably one of the worst movies I saw in the last couple of months.
