Girlfight

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

While Rodriguez punches through the indie clutter to announce herself as a superb new movie talent, so Kusama scores big points in her first main event.

TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly

Confirms its place as one of the best first films in recent memory, and one of this year's very best films.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's always about more than boxing.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Refreshing and surprising, the way independent movies are supposed to be.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The effect is as potent as a straight right to the solar plexus.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A terrific little uppercut of a boxing movie and close to a perfect one.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Rodriguez, who never acted before auditioning for the director, is utterly convincing, fluid and determined and jaded and wild like any teen-ager, but with a bracing spirit and a shocking store of ferocity.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A strong, stinging film, alive with conflicts that defy glib resolutions.

Time Richard Corliss

Gives its fine actors room to breathe and behave--and in Michelle Rodriguez's case, glow.

Variety Emanuel Levy

Blends in a most satisfying manner the conventions of several genres, resulting in a coherent picture that is at once a poignant inner-city drama, a rousing sports movie, an emotional family yarn and, above all, a sweet romance.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

The movie belongs to Ms. Rodriguez. With her slightly crooked nose and her glum, sensual mouth, she looks a little like Marlon Brando in his smoldering prime, and she has some of his slow, intense physicality. She doesn't so much transcend gender as redefine it.

Slate David Edelstein

Belongs to that most promiscuous of genres -- the go-for-it sports melodrama -- but transcends it and then some.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A near-irresistible button-pusher that's agile enough to hold a mirror to its own aspirations: The Sundance prize-winning filmmaker and her prize discovery, Michelle Rodriguez, merge in the image of a self-invented amateur boxer.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Luminously understated.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A powerful and empathetic melodrama with feminist underpinnings.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Held together by strong writing, insightful direction, and a stunning turn by newcomer Rodriguez, who is not only a gorgeous young woman but a fiercely charismatic screen presence.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Uplifting and moving in a traditional Hollywood way, while also seeming as raw and unfiltered as cinema vérité.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Rodriguez is riveting, with a drop-dead cynical charm.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

There's a sense of genuineness throughout Girlfight.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

The movie belongs to Rodriguez: A gorgeous woman with a powerful body and the face of an Aztec princess, she's also a natural talent who instinctively understands the importance of economy in good acting.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Gets everything right.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

A coming-of-age tale that truly floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

A genre-twisting surprise.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

A persuasively feminine coming-of-age story.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Kusama's impressive feature debut is an affecting coming-of-age drama whose story is familiar without being hackneyed.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

A scrappy independent film that packs the same emotional punch as "Rocky."

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A rousing, girl-positive, indie success story whose dynamic rhythms deliver a connecting punch.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Girlfight, for its skill and theme, will please many. It's a shame it's no knockout.

Film.com Gemma Files

Kusama understands her subject intimately, and it shows.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Kusama leads with feminist empowerment, but her sucker punch is a sappy romance.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

A little more flair and polish could have made Girlfight a terrific movie instead of just the decent one it is.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Rodriguez's acting almost scores a knockout even though the movie's directing and dialogue are fairly routine.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

A modest project with an agreeably modest point of view, but it cries out for a sharp, believable naturalism Kusama simply doesn't supply.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

We're in for a long, unpleasant, reactionary ride.