Hellion
Sundance Selects | Release Date: June 13, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
17
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLindsey BahrJun 12, 2014
Despair is not quiet for a broken father (Aaron Paul) and his troublemaker sons in Kat Candler’s brisk, transfixing drama, which takes place in blue-collar southeast Texas. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 12, 2014
Hellion offers a startling and memorable portrait of adolescent life in downscale East Texas suburbia, along with a white-hot breakthrough performance from teenage actor Josh Wiggins. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJun 25, 2014
Director Candler acquits herself nicely in her third feature-length film, never allowing the agonizing narrative to drown in self-pity. She keeps the film’s head above water despite the occasional contrivances in her screenplay. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyJun 13, 2014
A well-observed and patiently told story, with one good scene after another, featuring amazing performances across the board, but particularly from newcomer Josh Wiggins. Read full review
67
HitfixDaniel FienbergMay 22, 2014
Kat Candler has cobbled together an assortment of half-developed genre pieces that ultimately don't entirely gel. I think the elements work better as parts than Hellion does as a whole. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 10, 2014
I like the way writer-director Kat Candler, expanding a short film she made a few years back, doesn’t give away the whole back-story — what killed the mother, who might have been to blame. Read full review
60
CineVueEd FranklSep 22, 2014
Its narrative might reach cliché towards the end, but powerful performances carry this fine fable of the American Dream lost in heartbreak. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJul 11, 2014
The resulting coming-of-age story isn't necessarily an uplifting one. It is harsh. It is melancholy. It is sometimes uncomfortable to watch and predictable here and there. But it also boasts a feeling of authenticity. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJun 12, 2014
Hellion is a glimpse into rural American childhood that’s both tense and melancholy. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichJun 12, 2014
Hellion aims to cut deep, striking a tone that melds the hysterical moralism of Larry Clark’s Kids (1995) with the coming-of-age melancholy of Mud’s Jeff Nichols (also this film’s executive producer). Read full review
60
Village VoiceChuck WilsonJun 10, 2014
Hellion offers Paul his most adult screen role so far, and he's very fine, but the movie belongs to Wiggins, a newcomer whose innate gifts are a perfect echo of Paul's. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeMay 19, 2014
More sensitive than sensational, Candler’s debut doesn’t add much in the way of insight to the juvenile delinquency genre, but boasts a stunning breakthrough performance from newcomer Josh Wiggins as the troublemaker in question. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJul 24, 2014
It's not as if empathetic peeks into the lives of America's poor white boys aren't valuable, and Hellion has nothing if not empathy for every one of its characters. But without a more original story or a distinctive visual presence, it's hard for it to rise above a crowded field. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 13, 2014
A little more deviating from the playbook would make Hellion stand out more amidst an ever-growing pack of similar films. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJul 24, 2014
Based on her short film, Candler’s Hellion pads its slender, commonplace, but potentially rewarding premise with contrivances, clichés, repetitiousness, and, when all else fails, implausible, arbitrary melodrama. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 19, 2014
One just wishes the scaffolding of indie tropes around Paul and the better parts of Hellion weren't so shaky. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 12, 2014
Writer and director Kat Candler struggles to shape an undercooked story into compelling drama. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 12, 2014
Occasionally, the viewer gets the sense that the camera’s jittery swaying is meant to draw attention from the film’s clunkiness. Fragrance is a poor substitute for depth. Read full review
50
The DissolveNoel MurrayJun 10, 2014
Hellion lingers for most of its running time in a betwixt-and-between place, never becoming either the sublime character sketch or the overripe melodrama it alternately promises to be. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDavid Lee DallasJun 9, 2014
Both film and protagonist are troubled works in progress that shuffle and meander and frequently falter, but occasionally sing. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 22, 2014
The actors' raw honesty and the unvarnished authenticity of the Southeast Texas environment lend weight to this slow-burn drama about responsibility, even if its storytelling is unrelentingly downbeat and lacks muscularity. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMay 19, 2014
Admittedly heartbreaking and moving in its final moments, Hellion just can’t quite convince or coalesce its ideas of struggle, pain and fury in a meaningful or new way. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelJul 17, 2014
Not that inarticulate characters can't be compelling if they are written with subtlety, acted with insight and, most of all, framed by a directorial vision, but Hellion, despite a promising debut from Wiggins, falls short in at least two of the above. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 5, 2014
Hellion is so sincere and so dull that some might mistake it for a true work of art. Read full review
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