Hesher
Newmarket Films | Release Date: May 13, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
13
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
MovielineMichelle OrangeMay 12, 2011
Portman is also a producer of Hesher; it is the first of her new company's films. It's not too tough to see what might have drawn a producer to the project: The story's mix of the mythical and the mundane has become an indie staple, and Hesher's edge might have proved artful instead of shredding everything in its path. For any actress, however, the part of Nicole is embarrassingly thin. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichMay 10, 2011
That T.J. and his family willingly allow this headbanging psycho(analyst) to move into their cluttered, dankly lit abode-the emotional damage is palpable, yo!-is just one of the film's many eyebrow-raising contrivances. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineAmy NicholsonMay 9, 2011
Joseph Gordon-Levitt dominates this slight, worth-a-watch dramedy. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 9, 2011
Too dark for a very broad audience, it will flummox some viewers drawn by its cast but will strike others with its more-than-prickly approach and standoffish humor. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn LevyMay 27, 2011
The chief thing he (Susser) has going for him is Gordon-Levitt, whose intense immersion in his overwritten character is laudable if the result isn't exactly likeable. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 13, 2011
Director Spencer Susser, who wrote the film with David Michod, has a kinetic filmmaking style and an impish, crash-and-burn sense of humor that keeps sentiment at bay long enough to let us appreciate the loose, uncomplicated performances from a cast that includes suddenly ubiquitous Oscar winner Natalie Portman. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMay 12, 2011
Hesher has its genuinely affecting scenes, but too much of the time it feels false and shallow. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallMay 12, 2011
Writer-director Spencer Susser and cowriter David Michod (Animal Kingdom) generate fresh hells at a surreally rapid clip but cop out with an incongruously sentimental ending. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanMay 11, 2011
As the checkout girl everyone's got a crush on, Natalie Portman makes a winsome return to her "Garden State" gawkiness. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMay 12, 2011
Rather than a character rooted in some sort of reality-social, satirical, psychological, take your pick-Hesher is an abstract notion animated by false energy. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMay 12, 2011
Hesher is a muddle of inchoate feelings that never really grasps the clichés to which it raises its middle finger. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMark HolcombMay 10, 2011
Still, Hesher finds uncommon sympathy for people at loose ends, and although Hesher himself is sentimentalized and backhandedly inspiring, he never softens into an actual role model. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthyMay 9, 2011
The problem with the script by Susser and David Michod, working from a story by Brian Charles Frank, is that Hesher's uncouth behavior is so aggressively pushed to single-minded, crudely exploitative effect. Read full review
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