If I Stay
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: August 22, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
22
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
HitfixDrew McWeenyAug 21, 2014
While I think If I Stay has to do a fair amount of juggling to get its premise to work, there is a cumulative power to it that I found undeniable and earned. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 21, 2014
Cutler is selling a certain kind of product with If I Stay, but he sells it honestly and well. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 22, 2014
Any movie that considers the possibility of an afterlife, or the possibility that there isn't one, without first getting all postapocalyptic about it, merits some respect. Stay, Mia, stay! Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 22, 2014
Moretz’s performance — and the easy chemistry she shares in flashbacks with co-star Jamie Blackley as her boyfriend — help fortify a story that, for all its popularity, is rather maudlin and painfully awkward at times. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 21, 2014
Even at its most wrenchingly painful, the film readily delivers generous dollops of pleasure. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 21, 2014
One of the most curious aspects of If I Stay is the way it rigorously ignores religion and spirituality. With the exception of an undefined "white light" image that recurs, the movie never once mentions "God" (as an entity). For a movie that is so much about death, it seems like an odd omission. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 21, 2014
The adults fare best. Leonard and Enos have more electricity than the teens do. And the best performance is a low-key, authentic one by Stacy Keach as Mia's grandfather. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 20, 2014
Manipulative, contrived, melodramatic — all labels we slap on that most perfectly titled movie genre, “the weeper.” All fit If I Stay like original packaging. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 1, 2014
The saddest thing about If I Stay is that it affords Moretz so little opportunity to be non-sad. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 21, 2014
If I Stay takes time to find its footing amid miscalculations and awkward moments. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 21, 2014
The director, R. J. Cutler, whose previous work has mostly been in big- and small-screen documentaries, has a way of underplaying large feelings and amplifying subtle shifts of mood. Read full review
60
Time OutTrevor JohnstonAug 20, 2014
For a drama pretty much aimed at 12-year-old girls, it’s less superficial than you’d expect. Read full review
60
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekAug 19, 2014
[Cutler] approaches all these teenage hyperfeelings with respect and sensitivity. It doesn’t hurt that he has Moretz in his corner. Read full review
58
The PlaylistKimber MyersAug 21, 2014
Moretz is great here, able to rise above the voiceover and dialogue she’s given. And thank goodness, because she's in almost every frame. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 4, 2014
As I write these words, I feel myself experiencing a loss of consciousness, wondering how this recipe for sugar shock could interest any sentient being over the age of nine. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Geoff PevereAug 21, 2014
If I Stay is true to principle in one significant regard: It makes no concessions to anyone outside its teenage female cohort. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 21, 2014
The settings and supporting roles suggest that If I Stay started out as someone’s passion project, but the final product only requires its star to sleepwalk through buckets of schlock. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartAug 21, 2014
Compared to another recent teen weepie, “The Fault in Our Stars,” this one comes up wanting. That film’s strong point was the delight its heroine took in detonating romantic clichés; If I Stay seems determined to keep them on life support. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleWilliam GossAug 20, 2014
Few genuine moments throw into even sharper relief the tedious trappings which surround this, your average teenage tragedy. Read full review
48
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeAug 19, 2014
While many of the big moments of If I Stay can be easily dismissed, it's the little ones that elevate the film to at least mixed-bag status. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 22, 2014
If I Stay never bothers to go after authenticity when there's a cliché hovering nearby. That may not be enough of a drawback to prevent teenage audiences from lapping up the movie with a spoon, but they certainly deserve better. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc MohanAug 22, 2014
The movie's biggest flaw, from a local perspective, is its unconvincing use of Vancouver, B.C., to represent Portland, Oregon. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 20, 2014
Child actors can have a tough time transitioning into adult careers, their charm often evaporating with the onset of puberty. But for Chloë Grace Moretz, the trouble isn’t growing pains; she’s just overqualified for the roles Hollywood tends to offer young women her age. Read full review
40
The GuardianMike McCahillSep 22, 2014
The smart cast occupy themselves with the dog-eared emotions scattered around the waiting rooms. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerAug 25, 2014
Too many false notes add up to a Nicholas Sparks-lite teen romance. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 21, 2014
The production as a whole is awfully clumsy, and Ms. Moretz, who is only 17, needs more help than she gets from the first-time feature director, R.J. Cutler. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 21, 2014
The problem is that almost everything in the film feels either forced or false, so the tears aren't earned. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAug 21, 2014
The movie is designed not to explore the experience of illness, or first love, or adolescence, but merely to make us swoon, sigh, and sob. Read full review
40
The DissolveKeith PhippsAug 21, 2014
It’s hard to care about the fate of characters who never seem particularly alive in the first place. Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangAug 19, 2014
The overall execution is so pedestrian that it’s possible to feel more moved by the filmmakers’ good intentions than by the actual emotional content onscreen. Read full review
39
Film.comAug 21, 2014
Even the love story doesn’t work, because Moretz and Blackley exhibit zero romantic chemistry, and it’s never exactly clear why the pair love each other so much. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 21, 2014
Director R.J. Cutler is fond of time-lapse establishing shots and rapid-fire montages, none of them particularly effective in conveying this bizarre dual world Mia now inhabits. Read full review
38
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 21, 2014
A mawkish, preposterous melodrama riddled with clichés, stereotypes, bad dialogue, and inept emotional manipulation. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJon FroschAug 19, 2014
Stacy Keach provides a bit of relief from all the oppressive earnestness in his brief appearance as Mia’s grandfather, evoking a depth of feeling otherwise missing here. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoAug 21, 2014
Moretz is an appealing young woman whose star is rising. She'll probably have an exceptional career, but If I Stay won't be a highlight. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineRichard Scott LarsonAug 21, 2014
The film, based on the novel by Gayle Forman, is an almost deliberate confirmation of Alison Bechdel's claim that women in film are so often shown only in relation to men. Read full review
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