Permission
Good Deed Entertainment | Release Date: February 9, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKimber MyersFeb 8, 2018
Permission asks difficult questions and doesn't offer easy answers. But while it deals with heavy relationship issues including the validity of monogamy, it manages an easy, seemingly effortless humor that seduces the audience while simultaneously breaking filmgoers' hearts. Read full review
80
VarietyAmy NicholsonFeb 9, 2018
Permission is a small story made with big performances from leads Stevens and Hall, and while it hasn’t gotten the promotional push for audiences to pay attention, people lucky enough to stumble across it will fall for everyone involved, and commit to keeping tabs on Crano’s career. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyFeb 9, 2018
What is most unexpected about Permission is its sense of poignancy and tenderness. In its own way, it's quite heartbreaking. Read full review
75
The PlaylistAlly JohnsonDec 1, 2017
Despite a slightly silly premise and a script that plays it fast and loose with increasingly ridiculous scenarios, director Brian Crano‘s sincere and funny Permission manages to charm and impress thanks to the largely committed and above-average cast of Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 14, 2018
The final scenes are wrenching. The final shot is happy and sad and strange and awful and very hopeful. As I said, it depends on your vantage. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 8, 2018
Every now and then you run across a film in which a really talented cast takes a crack at a well-worn genre entry. For the most part, that’s what Permission is, though writer and director Brian Crano tosses in a couple of wrinkles. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergFeb 8, 2018
If unwise remarks at a dinner can cast a pall over a longstanding relationship, then a great ending can redeem and even force reconsideration of an otherwise middling film. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneFeb 5, 2018
Almost everything about Permission feels flighty and parochial when laid beside the fateful mire of “Loveless,” yet Hall, in particular, lends a sober grace to the erotic roundelay. Read full review
69
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpFeb 8, 2018
Even at their breeziest, Crano’s punchlines cost exorbitant amounts of discomfort. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerFeb 8, 2018
Ultimately, the film becomes a love letter to Hall, and that's what saves it. She's such a beautiful, prickly, intelligent, singular presence that you root for Anna, no matter how many questionable choices she and the film make. Read full review
60
Screen DailyGraham FullerFeb 8, 2018
For over an hour, Permission unfolds as a mildly amusing romcom about two modern Brooklyn couples facing commitment crises. Toward the end, the main plot, about a straight pair experimenting with polyamory, takes a dramatic turn. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartFeb 9, 2018
A warm-hearted and ambitiously honest look at the pros and cons of monogamy, but it tends to be understated to the point of underwhelming. Read full review
50
Village VoiceSerena DonadoniFeb 8, 2018
This earnest, deadly serious character study has few moments of levity, mostly provided by an arch Gina Gershon, still as intoxicating and seductive as she was in Bound. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenFeb 6, 2018
Brian Crano is as skittish as his protagonists are about the particular contours of their dilemma. To put it bluntly, Permission is a sex film without the sex. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckFeb 6, 2018
Trafficking in familiar themes, Permission ultimately doesn't have anything very new to say about them. Read full review
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