Sweetie
Filmpac Distribution | Release Date: September 10, 1989 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Portland Oregonian
This remarkable film by Jane Campion has a distinctive photographic style perfect for this tale of a very odd family dominated by a corpulent and crazy daughter. [24 Feb 1990, p.C06]
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The film leaves us staggering with a strange, almost unbearable embrace of childish innocence and treacherous spite. It is powerfully depressing. [02 Mar 1990, p.E1]
100
The Seattle TimesMichael Upchurch
Until its final moments, Sweetie maintains a precarious and sublime balance between comedy and tragedy. The script - ably handled by a splendid ensemble cast - is generously spiced with wry and illuminating moments and is uncannily accurate in its portrait of a volatile dysfunctional family. [02 Mar 1990, p.22]
91
The PlaylistWill Ashton
An acutely defined, starkly realized and profoundly unsettling debut if ever there was one. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The acting style edges toward parody, the material is unforgiving of Australian middle-class life in the boondocks and then, pow! - Sweetie waltzes onto the screen. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.
Sweetie’s brilliance stems from how Campion inventively explores the relationship between inanimate objects and personal memory, Sally Bongers’s static camera lingering on the precipice of a family unit brimming with secrets and lies. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Every frame in this comic horror story of two unstable sisters tingles with an arresting mix of deadpan humor and yawning dread. [21 Sep 1989, p.60]
88
Chicago TribuneDave Kehr
One of the freshest, most exciting first features to appear in a very long time. [19 May 1989, p.1]
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Cruelly honest and pitilessly funny, Sweetie is one of the nakedest explorations of familial love and desperation ever filmed. Read full review
80
Washington PostHal Hinson
In making her first film, Campion has done thrillingly atmospheric work, and in the process, established herself as perhaps the most perversely gifted young filmmaker to rise up in years. Read full review
80
The GuardianLuke Buckmaster
Campion offsets what could have been a morose drama with an atmosphere that becomes increasingly, and unnervingly, mystical. Read full review
80
The New York TimesVincent Canby
Sweetie looks like a small movie, and in every measurable way it is, but it possesses remarkable strength and tenacity. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Sweetie confirms Campion as a highly original movie talent. Read full review
80
EmpireStaff (Not Credited)
Sweetie is a deeply uncomfortable, distressing yet wholly rewarding experience. Read full review
75
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This Australian film by New Zealand director Jane Campion comes at you, and keeps coming at you, in peculiar, oddly enchanting bursts of detail. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Campion's merciless staging forces a more intimate relationship between viewers and characters; it's hard to take a detached stance when she's smearing raw emotions all over the screen. Read full review
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Sweetie is an original, audacious tragicomedy. Read full review
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