Teen Spirit
Bleecker Street | Release Date: April 12, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
15
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatBobby LePireMar 14, 2019
Minghella’s incredible directorial debut is a technicolor, neon-drenched fever dream. It is told with remarkable visual prowess, jaw-dropping editing, a soundtrack to die for, career-best performances from its central cast, and most importantly, heart. This is not to be missed. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisApr 11, 2019
Teen Spirit, Max Minghella’s sweet and touching directing debut, is both proudly clichéd and refreshingly different. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 18, 2019
Minghella does a fine job of capturing the essence of the 21st century talent competition show and all its corny, addictive allure. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 17, 2019
Don’t expect more of Teen Spirit than the movie can deliver: It’s an unapologetically slight story about a girl with ambitions that many would call shallow. But even as it obeys the rules of the Cinderella story in many ways, it defies them in some others. Read full review
75
TheWrapSteve PondNov 19, 2018
Minghella, to his credit, makes it an entertaining ride even when we see where it’s going, and Fanning turns out to be a terrific singer well suited to the alternative-rock playlist she’s given. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 15, 2018
The music and locations are specific so that the characters don’t have to be — viewers can take the movie on its own terms, while also projecting themselves onto it. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeApr 17, 2019
In a film seemingly aimed more at teens than adults, Minghella effectively updates that familiar star-is-born template for an arthouse-minded Instagram generation. Read full review
67
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanMar 14, 2019
Simply put, Elle Fanning is Teen Spirit. This is a performance piece, nothing more and nothing less, and those invested in seeing Fanning soar in her career have every reason to watch. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicSamantha IncorvaiaApr 18, 2019
This won't be the best movie audiences will ever see, but at least it's fun to watch with pretty visuals and upbeat songs. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaApr 12, 2019
Violet wants to sing. Does Violet want to be a pop star? This is posed as the the driving question of the film, but nothing about Fanning’s performance suggests a desire for much of anything. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleApr 11, 2019
Writer-director Max Minghella’s U.K.-set fairy tale Teen Spirit — which takes Elle Fanning’s lonely immigrant adolescent from karaoke dreams to singing contest heights — is somewhere between feeling abbreviated and wearing out its welcome. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 9, 2019
You can kill the vibe of Minghella’s film with nitpicking, but Fanning rides the movie home to glory. She is simply sensational. Read full review
58
Original-CinJim SlotekApr 18, 2019
Minghella’s directorial debut is awash with mean girls, pretty boys, seizure-inducing club scenes, headache-inducing auto-tune, and a thin plot that unfolds (and ends) dizzyingly quickly. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 15, 2018
So while the whole is less than the sum of its parts, there is a lot to like. The cast is unique, the visuals mesmerizing, and the music ready to get your toes tapping in the theater. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 24, 2019
Elle is almost enough to make one forget the vapid, incomplete story Minghella-the-younger’s stuck her in. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 17, 2019
Very like a gummy bear, Teen Spirit gives you a nice little sugar rush until the lights come up and you realize you’re still hungry. Part of the problem is the script, which includes lines of dialogue so generic it’s as if Minghella is daring himself to squeeze a drop more juice out of them. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithApr 7, 2019
In the end, the film is all too ready to transform into just another shiny pop object indistinguishable from so many others before it. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMar 13, 2019
Sadly, the film doesn’t live up to the depth of the music that seems to have inspired its existence. Read full review
50
Screen DailyWendy IdeSep 15, 2018
The screenplay seems a little thin, full of frayed threads which are never properly woven into the story. Read full review
50
The PlaylistJordan RuimySep 15, 2018
Minghella surely knew that what he had here was a familiar story, but despite his gritty and admirable direction it fails to break the traditional formula. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 15, 2018
Teen Spirit is too tidy, concocted, and safe. It longs to channel the high of great pop, but as a movie it lacks the ecstatic imagination to do what great pop does. It never soars. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteApr 17, 2019
It seems that no matter how many times pop chews up and regurgitates itself, it ain’t dead yet. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinSep 15, 2018
This making-of-a-star drama is old-fashioned and corny, and not in a good way. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Chelsea Phillips-CarrApr 17, 2019
Teen Spirit is a dizzying exercise in the "Bohemian Rhapsody" school of nonsensical editing. Perhaps it is fitting that Teen Spirit is badly made. It would be more disappointing if a work of such lazy sexism were a formal triumph. Read full review
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