A Kid Like Jake
IFC Films | Release Date: June 1, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinMay 31, 2018
[A] simply lovely comedy-drama. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonMay 31, 2018
A daring little drama with a heavyweight cast, a gracefully delivered message and a hellish problem — specifically, other people. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaMay 31, 2018
It’s remarkable how engaging and light on its feet the director and cast are able to keep this subject matter, how much permission he gives them to f*ck up and try again. Read full review
75
The PlaylistLena WilsonJun 4, 2018
With capable performances and a smart, character-focused script, this film balances its formal conventions with narrative nerve, ultimately making for a satisfying – if not show-stopping – watch. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMay 31, 2018
A Kid Like Jake might not be especially cinematic, but it is profound in its simplicity and truthfulness about what real fights sound like and what real lives look like. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 7, 2018
Though its vibe is often too meandering, A Kid Like Jake shows that even the most accepting of environments aren’t immune to the vulnerabilities and worries coursing through any well-intended parent’s soul. Read full review
70
SlateAlex BaraschJun 1, 2018
There’s a lot of the stumbling and backtracking that comes with such uncharted territory — an authentic, conversational messiness we rarely see on screen. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 31, 2018
Silas Howard’s new film is nothing if not well-attuned to the difference between the purity of sharing the right values and the messiness of actually living with them. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesJ.R. KinnardJul 3, 2018
It’s a daring premise, which makes Howard’s fluffy approach to the material all the more frustrating. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 13, 2018
Benefits from a sensitive, even-tempered tone, as well as terrific supporting performances from Spencer, Ann Dowd (as Alex’s status-obsessed mom) and a scene-stealing Amy Landecker, who plays an ambivalent therapy client of Greg’s. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 1, 2018
Tackles the tricky topic of gender dysphoria with sensitivity and grace. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJun 14, 2018
A Kid Like Jake, isn't terrible, but it sure could be better. Read full review
50
VarietyAmy NicholsonMay 31, 2018
The movie doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere until it explodes, and the dazzling fireworks don’t quite offset its long, seemingly aimless fuse. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMay 31, 2018
Danes and Parsons are a weird pairing, who carry their TV personas with them like tote bags. Their “Homeland” and “Big Bang Theory” shticks don’t quite click. Even so, when Danes’ mother comes to realize that her sweet kid is more than just a talking point, she’ll have you wiping away tears. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 31, 2018
Directed by Silas Howard from a screenplay by Daniel Pearle, who adapted his own stage play, A Kid Like Jake is humane, compassionate and strangely detached, almost to the point of inconsequentiality. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMay 30, 2018
If Howard and Pearle’s idea was to show how an extended argument devolves into the worst values of a previous generation — lashing out with implicit homophobia, resentment, and misogyny in the film’s shouty, snotty, excessively busy final third — then it comes too late here, before being patly resolved. A sharper drama would have made it the focus. Read full review
50
Slant MagazinePat BrownMay 29, 2018
Though the film makes the important point that even the most liberal parents' acceptance of a child's difference may be repression by another name, it fails to excite sufficient sympathy for its broadly drawn principal characters. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 8, 2020
Kid Like Jake is an earnestly intended, seriously acted film, painful in various intentional and unintentional ways. Read full review
40
Village VoiceKristen Yoonsoo KimMay 31, 2018
Howard, who is trans himself, approaches the film with sensitivity, but it ends up feeling like a conversation to be continued, not resolved. At least there’s some classic Claire Danes crying. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanMay 31, 2018
The writing in A Kid Like Jake feels more like playwriting than like screenwriting because we are told things in dialogue about Jake but barely ever get to see him behaving. Read full review
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