The Hottest State

Name: The Hottest State
Genre: Drama
Released: August 24, 2007
Duration: 117 min
Rating: 45
Cast: Catalina Sandino Moreno

2007

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critics

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

See All

7.0

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.0	Your Score
7.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

THE HOTTEST STATE

Movie Details & Credits

thinkfilm | Release Date: August 24, 2007

Starring: Catalina Sandino Moreno

Summary: Days before his 21st birthday, William (Mark Webber), an actor, meets and quickly falls madly in love with Sara (Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno), a seductive yet elusive singer/songwriter. The film follows William from a Lower East Side tenement to a Mexican hotel room, to a snowbound weekend in Connecticut, and to a swelteringDays before his 21st birthday, William (Mark Webber), an actor, meets and quickly falls madly in love with Sara (Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno), a seductive yet elusive singer/songwriter. The film follows William from a Lower East Side tenement to a Mexican hotel room, to a snowbound weekend in Connecticut, and to a sweltering homecoming in the hottest state of all--Texas--in the pursuit of Sara. His stubborn and sweetly innocent quest to find someone who loves him as much as he loves her may not lead to happiness, but surely leads to newfound maturity. (THINKFilm)… Expand

Director: Ethan Hawke

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 117 min

See All Details and Credits

Awards & Rankings

Watch Now

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

ReelViews - James Berardinelli

Hawke has made this movie his way and the result is a story that is by turns romantic and disquieting. It's well worth the price of admission. Read full review

Chicago Reader - J.R. Jones

Hawke’s script is admirably light-handed in showing how the hero’s unreasoning passion is fueled by his parents’ painful divorce, and despite the story’s date-movie aspects, its most penetrating observations come not from the kids but from the young man’s estranged father and mother (Hawke and Laura Linney, both superb). Read full review

Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Sean Axmaker

It's nothing new, but Hawke captures some evocative textures and honest moments. Read full review

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

In The Hottest State, Hawke uses fairly standard childhood motivations for his unhappiness and reveals too little real interest in the Sara character. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Carina Chocano

Personal and heartfelt, it's nevertheless bogged down by a lack of perspective on the material and a pointlessly frilly visual style. Read full review

The A.V. Club - Scott Tobias

Judging by the far more interesting adults in the film--Braga, a terrific Laura Linney as Webber's mother, and Hawke as his father--the solution for Webber and Moreno is to grow up and not be so full of themselves. In their current state, they make for unpleasant company, and so does the film. Read full review

Entertainment Weekly - Scott Brown

Whatever you're imagining -- self-serving self-awareness; unedited hipster mopes; yammering dear-diary script -- The Hottest State, Ethan Hawke's bathetic tale of a good-looking young actor's first heartbreak, is far worse. Read full review

SEE ALL 20 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Mixed:

User Reviews

Dave

Feb 3, 2008

I generally don't like young-romance films, but this one blew me awy. Great acting all around. Ditto the direction and even the soundtrack. I think the critics were just too impatient waiting for somebody to get shot.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

TylerS.

Dec 11, 2007

The critic's reviews are a little harsh. Fans of Hawke's movies won't be disappointed but people who tend to dislike scripts with self-awareness (for instance, like many of Linklater's films) probably won't enjoy it. The soundtrack is amazing.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

DerekB.

Jan 19, 2008

It's a flawed movie, but a cute one. The dialogue gets cheesy at times, and the characters don't develop as much as you'd like them to, but you do sympathize with them after a while - even if you're not really supposed to. Not nearly as horribly as some critics say, It's a flawed movie, but a cute one. The dialogue gets cheesy at times, and the characters don't develop as much as you'd like them to, but you do sympathize with them after a while - even if you're not really supposed to. Not nearly as horribly as some critics say, that's for sure...… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

ChadS.

Jan 1, 2008

"Do you speak English?" asks William(Mark Webber) when Sarah(Catalina Sandino Moreno) sits mutely at the bar as she considers whether to follow him home or not. Later in "The Hottest State", Sarah could ask William the same thing as he whines and pleads for the budding singer-songwriter to "Do you speak English?" asks William(Mark Webber) when Sarah(Catalina Sandino Moreno) sits mutely at the bar as she considers whether to follow him home or not. Later in "The Hottest State", Sarah could ask William the same thing as he whines and pleads for the budding singer-songwriter to love him back. On the night they first met, she tells William that he's not very complicated. Well, neither is she. Two words: ice princess. And William, one word sums him up: idiot. For nearly two hours, the ice princess and idiot talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. When they break up, William becomes insufferable in his unwillingness to take a hint and get lost. The dialogue in "The Hottest State" is so banal, you'll never complain about Woody Allen again. In a film, it's more interesting to hear intellectuals rather than airheads speak. Good photography, though. Texas does look like the hottest state.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

SEE ALL 4 REVIEWS