The Girlfriend Experience
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: May 22, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Girlfriend Experience is one of Steven Soderbergh's bite-size, semi-improvised, shot-on-DV doodles (like Bubble or Full Frontal), and it's the best one he's made. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This film is true about human nature. It is not universal, but within its particular focus, it is unrelenting. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The smartest thing director Steven Soderbergh did in the making of The Girlfriend Experience was to cast Sasha Grey. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Fair warning: I had to see The Girlfriend Experience twice before its pieces settled into coherent shape. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The thinking behind Grey's casting, with its obvious sex-industry connections, lends the film a degree of verisimilitude, but it really pays off in a cameo by film critic Glenn Kenny, who brings a hilariously sleazy theatricality to the role of an "escort critic" who expects graft for his reviews. Read full review
80
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
Her beauty, independence, and stock portfolio notwithstanding, Chelsea’s tale is a timely, tragic one told with typical Soderbergh finesse, a sly, sleek merger of sex, lies and hi def video. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Voyeurism is a favorite pursuit of Americans, and The Girlfriend Experience works in large part because it indulges that pastime. The fascination with the film is that it offers an arm's-length opportunity to peer through a peephole into a lifestyle that will be exotic and alluring to most in the audience. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Stylishly shot on the high-def cheap, runs 77 potently sexless minutes. Its subject isn't erotica, it's commodities trading. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazinePerry Seibert
Stands among the best of Soderbergh's many "little" films, where he recharges his artistic batteries and tries out new techniques before jumping back into the world of big budgets and superstars. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Soderbergh's experiments are gripping -- the photography, music, wobbly chronology and so on -- but the movie is more of a curiosity than anything else. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
This is one of the director's small, experimental, semi-improvised provocations, and if it doesn't push too deep, it's pointed enough to leave a mark. Read full review
70
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Fascinating study of free enterprise in free fall. While it may disappoint thrill-seekers, "Girlfriend" should still delight Soderbergh fans and niche auds. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Grey isn't the first porn actress to go straight, but she may be the first to allegorize her own situation--projecting an on-screen self-confidence that’s indistinguishable from pathos. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
When the turmoil of the last 12 months has receded and the 10th-anniversary deluxe collectors edition comes around, this strange, numb cinematic experience may seem fresh, shocking and poignant rather than merely and depressingly true. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
A modest success that makes one wish Soderbergh could find some happy middle ground between funky experiments and "Ocean's Eleven." Read full review
70
Washington PostJan Stuart
The film manages a career-spanning panache: Soderbergh taps into the nervy impulses of his earliest endeavor, "sex, lies and videotape" as well as "Ocean's Eleven." The Girlfriend Experience has something to elevate and exasperate fans of both. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Moderately compelling and clinical. This isn't "Breakfast at Tiffany's"; this isn't even "Klute." Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's hampered by a listless quality and a one-note performance by porn-star-turned-actress Sasha Grey. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The effect is impressionistic and provocative, with the emphasis falling differently on scenes because of our knowledge or lack thereof. Read full review
60
SlateDana Stevens
Though the result is thematically slight, it's structurally sophisticated enough to reward a second viewing (or at least, unlike Grey's previous work, to be watched all the way through). Read full review
60
EmpireKim Newman
Good central performances but short on plot. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The Girlfriend Experience uses nonprofessional actors, aside from lead Grey, who is the acclaimed star of more than 80 porn films and here debuts in her first "nonadult" role. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
A compelling monotony, but one that's never quite pleasure, never quite pain and, therefore, never quite an experience. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Most of the dialogue is listless, and no matter how much Soderbergh snips and stitches, the movie is a corpse with twitching limbs. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Nowhere near as kinky or thinky as Soderbergh’s "sex, lies and videotape," Girlfriend pretends it has more on its mind than it really does. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle Smith
Time for another of Steven Soderbergh's "experimental," i.e., half-assed, films. Read full review
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