20th Century Women

Name: 20th Century Women
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: December 28, 2016
Duration: 119 min
Rating: 83
Cast: Alison Elliott, Annette Bening, Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig

2016

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 40 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 119 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	Your Score
7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 119 Ratings

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20th Century Women

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Movie Details & Credits

A24 | Release Date: December 28, 2016

Starring: Alison Elliott, Annette Bening, Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann, Thea Gill, Vitaly Andrew LeBeau

Summary: Set in Santa Barbara, 20th Century Women follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing — via Abbie (Greta Gerwig),Set in Santa Barbara, 20th Century Women follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing — via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home, and Julie (Elle Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor. 20th Century Women is a poignant love letter to the people who raise us – and the times that form us – as this makeshift family forges fragile connections that will mystify and inspire them through their lives. [A24]… Expand

Director: Mike Mills

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 119 min

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Awards & Rankings

36	#36 Best Movie of 2016

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

CineVue - Maximilian Von Thun

Feb 9, 2017

Bright light and dazzling colour dominate, as befits the Santa Barbara setting, while every scene is packed with moments that are in turn engaging, amusing, poignant, awkward, heart-warming, heart-breaking and profound. Read full review

100

Consequence of Sound - Nico Lang

Oct 17, 2016

Despite the gender gap between the film’s creator and his subjects, the film is beautifully perceptive and, at times, deeply poignant. Mills has created the kind of comedy in which you laugh with recognition because its dilemmas feel so familiar. Read full review

Wall Street Journal - Joe Morgenstern

Dec 27, 2016

What makes this droll, darting story about a loose group of family and friends so moving? The answer lies partly in its tone. Mr. Mills seems to have thrown everything he could think of into the mix, dramatic unities be damned, but suffused it all with a poetic sense of life’s goofiness, solemnity and evanescence. Read full review

The New Yorker - Anthony Lane

Dec 12, 2016

The movie belongs wholeheartedly to Bening, and to the age, come and gone, that she enshrines. Read full review

Empire - Will Lawrence

Feb 9, 2017

An insightful and, on occasion, laugh-out-loud piece of filmmaking. Artfully shot and structured, while its warmth and wit shine as brightly as the Californian sun. Read full review

Chicago Sun-Times - Richard Roeper

Jan 12, 2017

There’s not a single false, “actor-y” note in Bening’s work. It is a master class in nuanced acting, and it is deserving of an Academy Award. Read full review

Village Voice - Melissa Anderson

Dec 27, 2016

Despite the movie's title and Bening's central role, women are oddly peripheral. Read full review

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User Reviews

edwardgonzalez

Apr 21, 2017

20th Century Women tells a story that is more complex than what it looks, and it feels real and gives a sense I can't describe at the moment, but it was breathtaking and beautiful. I haven't seen Beginners but after watching this I'm interested in seeing more of Mike Mills.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

spine_notches

Jan 18, 2017

Superb direction, cinematography, screenplay, and music sell this zippy journey through Mike Mills' childhood, which doubles back on itself in the way that the best stories do. But all this is secondary to the fantastic lived-in kind of acting that lights up the screen here. Fanning is someSuperb direction, cinematography, screenplay, and music sell this zippy journey through Mike Mills' childhood, which doubles back on itself in the way that the best stories do. But all this is secondary to the fantastic lived-in kind of acting that lights up the screen here. Fanning is some sort of revelation here, as a teenager asked to grow up too quickly. She seems invincible when she cartwheels across the bottom of a dried-out swimming pool but then, coming to a rest, fragile all the same. Gerwig plays Gerwig; Benning gets laughs from just the little ways her eyes squint and move in response to the insanity of the decade. By virtue of narration as a plot device, we are gifted with more details about these people and more time with them than we could ever ask for and yet we are left wanting more at the end. This is a Movie with a capital M – a separate place, with separate lives and separate attitude. The ending arrives all too soon, and perhaps inelegantly, but isn't that always the case.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

DirigiblePulp

Feb 17, 2017

Santa Barbara in 1979 was a perfect little heaven of sunsets, palm trees and homey Americana right before corporatocracy sucked the life out of it, if this film is to be believed. It's a slice of golden nostalgia that's pretty damn irresistible.

There's no plot or resolutions in any genericSanta Barbara in 1979 was a perfect little heaven of sunsets, palm trees and homey Americana right before corporatocracy sucked the life out of it, if this film is to be believed. It's a slice of golden nostalgia that's pretty damn irresistible.

There's no plot or resolutions in any generic sense. It's a small part of a remembered section from someone's past, its characters and setting a search for some understanding of where the changes in life began to take shape.

If all this seems a bit too rosy, it probably is, but in a way that's earnest and real. It's not so much nostalgia for its own sake as it is an understanding of how the small moments and the people inside them shape a life, if even subtly. In that sense this film is indeed rosy but not unnecessarily so.

The menstruation scene around the dinner table with Greta Gerwig is comic gold.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

moviemitch96

Jan 19, 2017

A well-made and well-acted film for the most part, Annette Bening certainly makes the most of her starring role, as does the rest of the supporting cast (with the likes of Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, etc.) However, the film's narrative style and pedestrian-feeling storyA well-made and well-acted film for the most part, Annette Bening certainly makes the most of her starring role, as does the rest of the supporting cast (with the likes of Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, etc.) However, the film's narrative style and pedestrian-feeling story somewhat hampered it for me. Overall, I really don't have much to say on this one honestly. It really isn't anything too memorable, but if anything, cetainly see it for a shining performance from Bening who I believe deserves at least an Academy Award nomination for her reliable and lighthearted performance.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Brent_Marchant

Jan 15, 2017

Despite a number of fine performances and a handful of well-written, memorable moments, the overall production meanders in search of the glue it needs to pull everything together. The result is either a finished product that's entirely too "inside" to be meaningful to anyone beyond itsDespite a number of fine performances and a handful of well-written, memorable moments, the overall production meanders in search of the glue it needs to pull everything together. The result is either a finished product that's entirely too "inside" to be meaningful to anyone beyond its creator or a gimmicky exercise in contrivance that's a little too intentionally quirky for its own good. The rudiments of a good film are here, but, unfortunately, they never coalesce into a satisfying whole.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

amaryllisvn

Aug 8, 2017

Cute, but predictably band-of-quirky-strangers bond together. Nice acting but too much ho-hum dancing together to show how joyful they are. At the end I wondered what the fuss was.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheDavo

Jan 27, 2017

DO NOT GO TO THIS MOVIE. Extraordinarily bad. Whoever imagined that having Annette Bening scowl at people from the screen for 90 minutes would be entertaining needs to be fired. Pretentious, boring and extremely dumb. Can't imagine that the critics actually saw this film. So bad.

3 of 17 users found this helpful314

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