The Hottest State
THINKFilm | Release Date: August 24, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Village VoiceAaron Hillis
Hawke quite capably taps into the bittersweet complexities of young, love-struck idiocy. Read full review
50
VarietyLeslie Felperin
Patchy lead perfs and mannered helming subtract value from pic's tangible plus points (solid supporting turns, pleasant score). Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Actor-turned-filmmaker Ethan Hawke's second feature, an adaptation of his own novel about youthful heartbreak, is hobbled by its singularly unappealing lead characters. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Hawke, who is very good as the young man's estranged father, had best stick to what he does best. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
At around the halfway point, its characters’ haranguing voices begin to grate on you. People in their early 20s, even pretty people, lose their appeal when they dwell this obsessively on their own inchoate turmoil. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Personal and heartfelt, it's nevertheless bogged down by a lack of perspective on the material and a pointlessly frilly visual style. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
A viewing of The Hottest State is likely to conclude with a crosstown sprint of a different kind: As soon as the credits start rolling, you can't wait to get out. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In The Hottest State, Hawke uses fairly standard childhood motivations for his unhappiness and reveals too little real interest in the Sara character. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
Hawke has created a standard-issue, Sundance-friendly indie film that's full of the predictable angst suffered by Manhattan artistic types, but unfortunately the lead characters are both so callow that you finally don't care much about them. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Judging by the far more interesting adults in the film--Braga, a terrific Laura Linney as Webber's mother, and Hawke as his father--the solution for Webber and Moreno is to grow up and not be so full of themselves. In their current state, they make for unpleasant company, and so does the film. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
To quote Dennis Hopper from the film "Search and Destroy": "Just because it happened to you doesn't make it interesting." Read full review
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