Girls State
| Release Date (Streaming): April 5, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
ColliderTaylor GatesJan 22, 2024
Not only is this documentary a microcosm of the country at large, reflecting real life in the way that charisma and the ability to fire up the masses can make all the difference when it comes to politics, but it also gives us a sense of what the future can look like. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 5, 2024
I like the way Moss and McBaine set us up to accept stereotypes — about teenage girls and their priorities, about conservative Emily or confident liberal Faith — and then upend those expectations. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNell MinowApr 5, 2024
Like its predecessor, this film is perceptive about these impressive young women who display dedication, seriousness of purpose, and genuine public-spiritedness. Read full review
86
The AtlanticShirley LiApr 5, 2024
Girls State is much more than a gender-flipped version of the previous project. Instead, the film offers a sharp study of how a supposedly empowering environment can simultaneously inspire and limit aspiring female leaders. Read full review
85
TheWrapAriana MartinezJan 22, 2024
It not only introduces another side of this democratic activity, but does so at the perfect time to highlight its inconsistencies and inequalities, giving these girls the extra opportunity for reflection and growth. Read full review
81
PolygonTasha RobinsonApr 12, 2024
The subjects of Girls State are trying to express their confidence about their power and impact in the world, while simultaneously watching their country deny them rights over their own bodies and emphasize their powerlessness. There’s a particularly uncomfortable irony in watching them working to piece together their own political beliefs and futures while their government is shutting down their options. Read full review
80
SlateSam AdamsApr 8, 2024
Girls State’s most engrossing characters don’t wind up being those who prevail, but those who persist, who dust themselves off and find a way to keep going forward. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariApr 4, 2024
Girls State is a powerful documentary that showcases just how invested and determined young women are in their desire to run for the highest office – despite the challenges they face. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 4, 2024
If the purpose of Girls State is to give high-school students a taste of how government works in real life, “Girls State” makes a case that it does its job only too well. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyApr 3, 2024
The compassionate directors of The Mission wisely let the young women do the talking. Seven credited cinematographers are there to capture every compelling moment. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 30, 2024
There’s also a fascinating dive into the inequalities that bedevil Boys State and Girls State themselves, reminding us how organizations often embody, at a structural level, some of the very problems they’re ostensibly trying to rectify. Read full review
80
VarietyLisa KennedyJan 22, 2024
The film’s seven protagonists are the result of McBaine and Moss’s broad and deep interview process. Demographically diverse, the women are immensely watchable and touchingly articulate. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAmber WilkinsonJan 22, 2024
McBaine and Moss offer a celebration of the young women attendees alongside a consideration of the everyday sexism many encounter. Read full review
80
The GuardianAdrian HortonJan 22, 2024
The film’s chief enjoyment is seeing how motivations transform, and character is forged, through the sliding doors of new people, victories and losses, and the sharpening of the young women’s disparate judgments on the genuinely disappointing differences between boys and girls state. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrApr 3, 2024
Like “Boys State,” this film presents a fascinating microcosm of American teenagers. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMarshall ShafferFeb 5, 2024
For chafing against existing systems designed by and for men, the storytelling structure of the film befits the female experience in American politics. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 22, 2024
Girls State gradually moves away from the reality show-like competition baked into its premise in favor of something more interesting and less resolvable. Read full review
75
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsJan 22, 2024
McBain and Moss capture all this with an unobtrusive eye. They have a real grasp of how to capture and frame candid interactions, how to pace this kind of near-reality television drama. It doesn’t hit its ambitious stride, though, until the end. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearApr 5, 2024
Like the young women who we spend nearly two hours with, we also emerge feeling both tinges of empowerment and a palpable sense of deflation. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJacob OllerJan 19, 2024
A documentary that can struggle to tie its young politicos to the outside world, but thrives when tying them to each other. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanApr 4, 2024
Girls State endears, but it also leaves viewers with the sense that, for a film about young women eager to take on the world’s challenges, the movie could stand to tackle a few more. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergJan 22, 2024
Girls State, like its predecessor, benefits from strong casting and ample access to the pint-sized political proceedings. Read full review
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