Spa Night
Strand Releasing | Release Date: August 19, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenAug 25, 2016
Ahn’s erotically charged, quietly devastating drama suggests David might yet find a way to be true to himself, but it finds no easy answers for this good son. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenAug 18, 2016
The film is a contemplation of the loneliness, tension and anxiety of outsiders pursuing a piece of the American dream. Read full review
90
Village VoiceSam WeisbergAug 17, 2016
There have been upbeat coming-out films (But I'm a Cheerleader) and tragic, infuriating ones (Boys Don't Cry, Brokeback Mountain). Andrew Ahn's Spa Night is executed on a significantly smaller scale, a deliberately anticlimactic one, which makes it all the more doleful. Read full review
80
TheWrapSam FragosoAug 18, 2016
Neither obtuse nor obvious, Spa Night finds the perfect balance in communication. It shows enough, but not too much; it articulates its ideas, but it doesn’t asphyxiate the audience with them. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyAug 19, 2016
Spa Night takes too much time to portray David's achingly slow and incomplete coming-out process, but its focus on the interior maelstrom of a teenager is extremely insightful Read full review
75
The PlaylistAlly JohnsonAug 18, 2016
There’s an immense amount of promise on display in Ahn’s film, from the performances and the direction, to the more technical elements. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayAug 17, 2016
Though it leaves too many narrative blanks unfilled, Spa Night is a promising debut from a filmmaker with a lot of insight into the different guises that immigrants and their offspring wear as they make their way through the world. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMatt BrennanAug 15, 2016
It recombines elements of the emigrant saga and the coming-of-age story into a searching, fresh-faced portrait. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijJul 31, 2016
Though more mainstream-oriented audiences will not be on board with Ahn’s brand of subtlety, for those willing to fully invest themselves, Spa Night offers a carefully considered story about identity or rather identities. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 31, 2016
Spa Night serves as an homage to the sacrifices first-generation immigrants made in order that their children could achieve their full potential in the States, expanding the concept of “pride” far beyond its protagonist’s gay identity. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandAug 17, 2016
The beautifully lensed drama is, like its protagonist, compelled and often obsessed by the human shape and form, and Ahn’s film artfully uses the physical to tell a mostly standard issue coming-of-age story with style. Read full review
60
The GuardianNigel M SmithJul 29, 2016
Despite its setting and Korean American cast, Spa Night unfurls in a largely expected manner, with David struggling to embrace his identity because of his strict religious upbringing, while trying to make his family proud. He’s portrayed so opaquely that’s it’s difficult to connect with his dilemma. Read full review
58
The Film StageDaniel SchindelJul 28, 2016
It’s nice that Spa Night has a story with a different kind of protagonist than what we’re used to, but it tells that story with all the lackluster waffling of any other shaky indie drama. Read full review
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