The Quiet
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: August 25, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
29
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
6
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Overall this is a compelling and sometimes disturbing motion picture. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
You still marvel at the visuals -- cinematographer M. David Mullen has done miracles with what must have been a microscopic budget -- but you're less invested in the tale. Which is a pity, because it might have been a perfect little potboiler. As it stands, it's merely pretty darned good of its type. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The few effective scenes in The Quiet suggest that the film might have worked as a kinked-up Hitchcockian thriller rather than the drab, serious drama it turns out to be. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
An unconvincing and uninvolving psychological thriller. Read full review
40
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Thematically the movie never reaches beyond the ready-for-prime-time mentality that specializes in psychological shorthand. Read full review
40
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Babbit is skilled at creating atmosphere and mood, all of it creepy or sodden, and actresses Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle put their hearts into their roles, which are, unfortunately, encased in a sleazoid TV movie of the week tarted up in art-school clothes. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
This ludicrously plotted drama of incestuous sexual abuse is only partially redeemed by its strong performances. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Perhaps future generations of film scholars will embrace The Quiet as a B-movie that problematizes the oppressive gaze, but for now, it's a misfire. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A screamingly bad melodrama whose message seems to be that people who think they're talking to a deaf person admit things they wouldn't admit to themselves. Silence, please. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Characters already too wicked to be credible start doing stuff simply too stupid to be believed, with no help from a cast way too overmatched to be useful. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Trapped between edgy art flick and exploitation psychothriller, The Quiet manages to be neither, and manages to be pretty awful in the bargain. Read full review
30
VarietyDavid Rooney
A Lifetime movie on crack, The Quiet dredges up every lurid cliche from the well of teen hormonal havoc in a tale of dysfunctional family meltdown that seems unsure whether to push for suburban-Gothic psychosexual excess or tongue-in-cheek malevolence. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Neither ambitious enough to take seriously nor sleazy enough to enjoy, The Quiet flirts with the trappings of exploitation cinema without going all the way. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMark Olsen
It never quite settles on whether it's a "Mean Girls" burlesque of teen life, an "American Beauty"-style bad-things-in-the-suburbs drama, or a wayward horror film. And it certainly never reconciles itself to successfully pulling off a hybrid of the three. Read full review
30
Film ThreatPhil Hall
The Quiet is best for cheap laughs by jaded moviegoers with absolutely nothing better to do with their time. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Creepy, creepy, creepy -- and not in a good way. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
This dank and rhythmless ''psychological'' potboiler was directed by Jamie Babbit, who made 2000's "But I'm a Cheerleader," and though she has shifted tones from shrill camp to moody angst in The Quiet, she still thinks in stereotypes so thin that they put you to sleep the moment they open their mouths. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
A repugnant little indie black comedy, poorly acted in hideous-looking digital video, guaranteed to send audiences fleeing for the nearest shower. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A movie of good intentions and awful results. Read full review
25
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The script drowns out its ideas with arch melodramatic devices and ridiculous twists while Babbitt smothers even the daylight scenes in an oppressive gloom. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Too confused to provide any thrills, even indecent ones. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The desperation TV stars must feel to be on the big screen is the only explanation for Edie Falco and Elisha Cuthbert's appearance in The Quiet, a creepy family drama that reeks of pretentiousness. Read full review
25
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Babbit clumsily underlines emotional moods. Read full review
0
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
With its pathetic characters, questionable logic, and wall-to-wall Beethoven, the movie is a serious contender for this year's Golden Turkey award. Read full review
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