The Future
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: July 29, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAug 3, 2011
As she did in her striking 2005 debut, "Me and You and Everyone We Know," July creates a fluid cinematic universe. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJul 28, 2011
The Future's main characters are, undeniably, dopes. But July and Linklater turn their ineptitude into a funny running joke, which becomes surprisingly affecting in the second half. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 11, 2011
A meditation on mortality, on loneliness, on the way technology and narcissism have intersected to create a fascinating monster, The Future is all of this and more. What Frank Capra would have made of it, who knows? But he would have liked its star. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 3, 2011
On the surface, this film is an enchanting meditation. At its core is the hard steel of individuality. Read full review
85
MovielineMichelle OrangeJul 28, 2011
July is more of a presence than an actress, or even a believable persona. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJul 25, 2011
As the portrait of a relationship meltdown involving two eccentric creative types prone to self-doubt, July's sophomore feature bears a strong resemblance to husband Mike Mills's upcoming "Beginners," although July's version of the story has a more experimental edge. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesOct 31, 2011
July's second film, while not quite as perfectly realised as her debut, nimbly avoids the 'sophomore slump', providing the curious with another window into her highly idiosyncratic world. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 20, 2011
Some people will find Miranda July's film a poetic triumph, a meditation on responsibility and disappointment. Others will find it hopelessly pretentious, one of those movies only pointy-headed critics can abide. I found the film to be more of the former than the latter. Except when the cat talks. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJul 28, 2011
The magical, metaphorical strain in The Future is what makes it powerful, unsettling and strange, as well as charming. The everyday fears and frustrations that shadow us on our awkward trip through the life cycle often feel enormous, even cosmic, and Ms. July has the audacity to find images and situations that give form to those metaphysical inklings. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAug 4, 2011
It can definitely grate on your nerves but, at best, it also gets into your mind, and sticks fast. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 4, 2011
What does The Future hold? Wonders, each of them weirder and more unnerving than the last. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 4, 2011
Halfway into this film, I wanted to smack the mopey bohemian couple played by July and Hamish Linklater; by the end, I realized the director was smacking them for me, and hard. In a case of biting the hand that feeds her, July has made possibly the worst date movie ever for trendy modern couples - a work that traps a pair of passive-aggressive hipsters in a drift of their own making. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 4, 2011
This sense of unruly behavior is mitigated, deliberately, by the gentleness and odd comic grace of July's presence and voice. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesAug 4, 2011
This is worth seeing, but only if you think you can tolerate the precious voice-over narration from the couple's wounded cat, delivered by July in a high, scratchy voice. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJul 31, 2011
The movie, which Miranda July wrote and directed, is pretty sharp, not to say acidic, on the silliness of good intentions, but she also takes care to slant the best lines toward the subject of time, and its terrible crawl. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineRay GreeneJul 24, 2011
July has mounted a surrealist fable about the delicate balance between relationships and the inner monologue inside each lover, with its incessant demands and individual needs. Unevenness is an aesthetic here - not so much a flaw as a conscious choice. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 11, 2011
July, like Hal Hartley, another overrated art-house luminary, is an acquired taste I have yet to acquire. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 19, 2011
July is a provocative and honorably independent filmmaker, but given the meager rewards of investing our time, The Future wasn't worth the wait. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartJul 29, 2011
The omnipresence of oddity in The Future dilutes its charm: A T-shirt creeps around on its own, a little girl likes being buried neck-deep in the backyard. Whatevs. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 26, 2011
The mood of this movie will brew with you for a while, even if it swirls around characters who aren't quite persuasive. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 24, 2011
This could be the premise of a zany comedy, but the mood of The Future is, from the outset, defeatist - annoyingly defeatist, to be frank. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeJul 24, 2011
For all the superficial hilarity of July's approach, a much sadder streak runs deep through the entire film, reinforced by Jon Brion's score (more tones than melody). Still, it's curious that this is the feeling she chooses to leave us with in the end. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn LevyAug 11, 2011
The art of Miranda July, the former Portlander and hyphenate extraordinaire, balances on the edge of the cunning and the precious, of depth and naivety, of the fetching and (sorry) the revolting. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 18, 2011
July also narrates the film, in voiceover, as the cat, and every time she does, it's a white-knuckle thing. You have to hold on until she stops. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. HobermanJul 26, 2011
Sophie's (or is it July's?) coy narcissism becomes a criticism of itself, and her "sadness" turns into something truly sad. In short, I have seen The Future and it's heartbreaking. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 11, 2011
As an unsparing portrait of disaffection among the small-paycheck, faux-creative class, The Future is rather astute … which isn't to say it isn't also bang-your-head-on-the-wall annoying. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 29, 2011
Sometimes these characters say things worth hearing. But too often, and in contrast to her first feature, "Me and You and Everyone We Know," July's calculated delivery doesn't reveal the profundity required to elevate it beyond a self-conscious deadpan. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerJul 24, 2011
Of all the vaguely philosophical, calculatedly left-of-center dialogue that peppers Miranda July's The Future, no line is more telling than the writer/director/star's late-film declaration, in the guise of her character Sophie, that "I'm saying okay to nothing." Read full review
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