Casa de los babys
IFC Films | Release Date: September 19, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
15
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
John Sayles's heartrending new film is a many-splendoured thing. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Sayles accomplishes another of his coups here. Eschewing all sentiment, avoiding all pathos, keeping his film and most of the women hard as nails, he manages to tell a compelling story. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
But Babys also resembles "Sunshine State" in another, more satisfying way: It leaves you longing to know what happens to these characters once the movie ends. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Babys is intellectually stimulating and emotionally stirring, a rare combination these days, though hardly unusual for writer/director John Sayles. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Sayles handles this material with gentle delicacy, as if aware that the issues are too fraught to be approached with simple messages. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Sayles seems to be trying, single-handedly, to correct centuries of First World self-centeredness in Third World contexts. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Some of the pieces in its jigsaw puzzle are too fragmentary, and there's a sense of racing against time to fill in the blanks. Yet the movie's even-handed portrayal of two cultures uneasily transacting the most personal business resonates with truth. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
If Casa de los Babys isn't necessarily a fully realized film, it's still a deeply felt glimpse into dizzyingly complex political and psychological forces that shape the most crucial decisions of a woman's life. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Marcia Gay Harden is an angry vulgarian who steals shampoo off the maids' carts and bribes a lawyer to get her baby. Sayles may not have planned it this way, but Harden makes crassness as powerful as any maternal instinct. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
But the movie goes absolutely nowhere. It allows us to be a fly on the wall to a whirlwind of gossip, confessions and intimate moments. But when the ending comes, it's an epic letdown. It's just so much Oprah-esque eye candy, without a point of view, or a plot. Read full review
63
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Hobbled by weak argumentation, a character who winds up a complete muddle, and Sayles’s inclination to romanticize Latin American revolutionary types, Casa is as mixed an effort as the filmmaker has essayed in some time. [October 2003, p. 18]
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Admittedly, mediocre Sayles is still watchable, but, relative to expectations, Casa de los Babys is a disappointment of significant proportions. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Unlike most Sayles movies, the filmmaker no sooner introduces his memorable characters and deeply resonant themes than his From Here to Maternity melodrama abruptly ends. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Asks questions worth pondering. I only wished the writer-director-editor answered more of them. Read full review
60
TimeRichard Schickel
This wisp of a movie turns out to be more thoughtfully affecting than many a more high-flying film. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDavid Ng
The screenplay's clutchy banter (interspersed with arias of teary confession) feels distinctly Oprah, but Sayles extracts unexpected life from his wooden setups. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
There is often not enough space for all these personalities to truly play out. They tend to become types rather than people, representatives of classes and points of view more than individual human beings. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Though ultimately something less than the sum of its parts, the film's performances are reason enough to see it. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
It's a bit more than the film can handle without leaving loose ends dangling, and though it's never preachy, Sayles' political message-sending sometimes comes across too clearly for its own good. He makes valid points, though, particularly when he lets his storytelling do the work for him. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Sayles is rarely a bore, but occasionally he frustrates more than he delights, enlightens or challenges. Such is the case with Casa de los Babys. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
As usual, Sayles's dialogue scenes are as shapely as blown glass, but none of the characters' predicaments has been adequately explored, much less resolved, when the final freeze-frame arrives. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
The women are terrific -- they know a thing or two about modulating pathos -- and watching them is a pleasure, even if the lines they're speaking sound like those of a world-worried, first-time playwright. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
It's too big an ensemble to provide enough back story for each player. But Sayles doesn't give his characters easily digestible labels, like "kook" or "pathetic loser." Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
A typically well-acted, if ultimately minor, effort by John Sayles, the socially conscious indie icon who's unafraid to take on unfashionable subjects. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The film feels more like a thesis than vivid drama. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Written and edited by Sayles, "Casa" is certainly the artist's baby, but he crams too much into a relatively brief running time. Worse, though it should be longer, we're not especially unhappy that it isn't, for being around these women gets tedious. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A creeping equanimity is taking over the work of John Sayles, a quality that in personal terms might be wise and coolheaded but in terms of drama is absolute death. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
What Sayles gives us is a jumble of ideas and stunning performances that never coalesce into a satisfying movie. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
The cast…is first-rate, but each is given a single note to play. Read full review
30
VarietyDavid Rooney
An entirely schematic treatise on maternity and conflicting cultures. A subject perhaps far more suited to documentary treatment, this numbingly earnest effort will be a laborious delivery for IFC. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Casa feels like a miss. The digging into each of these women's lives stays shallow and seldom uncovers anything unexpected. Read full review
30
Washington PostDesson Thomson
For all his patient, accumulative storytelling, Sayles yields little that doesn't feel trite or overly schematic. Read full review
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