Manic
IFC Films | Release Date: April 25, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Brutally honest and brilliantly acted. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Shows more hopelessness than optimism but is never less than honest. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Honest and moving. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
If the cast is distractingly pretty, the performances are also quite fine and, in the case of Gordon-Levitt, exceptional. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRon Wells
As always, Don Cheadle is fantastic, but the film belongs to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's without posturing or phony outrage, and offers instead something far more affecting: a deep sense of melancholy. This is the way it is, it says, and not much can be done about it. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
This clear-eyed, low-budget drama is populated by troubled teens whose stories aren’t packaged in neat little bows. Their histories are sad, their feelings raw, their futures uncertain. Read full review
70
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
Often the script (co-written by Michael Bacall, who plays sardonic bipolar rich kid Chad) rings clear with mouths-of-babes declamations that all pained kids spew before downing adulthood's suck-it-up Kool-Aid. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The texture of Manic feels honest and the chemistry of the kids is well observed, but even the modest breakthroughs are dramatic conventions that favor the symbolic over the genuine. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Excellent performances redeem Jordan Melamed's gritty teenage version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
Don Cheadle is wonderful, as always, as the former drug-addict-turned-psychiatrist who worries it's all hopeless but refuses to stop trying. Sounds clichéd, perhaps, but for the most part it works, thanks to piercingly authentic performances. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There's something already exhausted, however, in the intrusively gauzy, wobbly, blurry, zoomy digital-video look of the piece. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Searching for a documentary feel, the camera here is so shaky that you cling to the arms of your chair lest you pitch into the next row. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Buoyed by some sensitive performances and nearly tanked by insensitive filming. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Really, we'd rather just watch a good documentary about the subject. And as the camera flings around, we occasionally forget about what could help the teens and think more about what could help the director: How about a tripod? Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The film doesn't really go anywhere, other than outside for endless games of basketball, and the group-therapy environment allows for far too many young-actor monologues. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
If the movie is not original, at least it's a showcase for the actors and writers. It does not speak as well, alas, for director Jordan Melamed and his cinematographer, Nick Hay. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Melamed's debut film, Manic, set in a juvenile mental institution, has all the uncertainties of a first run-through. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDave Kehr
The camera work is so self-conscious and so intrusive that it consistently overrides our interest in the characters and their individual dramas. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
What really hurts is the movie's shallow screenwriting, self-indulgent acting, and woozy camerawork. Read full review
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