The Squid and the Whale
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: October 5, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
It's a rare film that can be convincingly tender, bitterly funny, and ruthlessly cutting over the course of fewer than 90 minutes. The Squid and the Whale not only manages this, it also contains moments that sock you with all three qualities at the same time. Read full review
100
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Treacherously funny and wrenchingly sad. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
Steering clear of phony melodrama and indie pretense, Baumbach captures a crisis in one family's life that, though it shakes the foundation, leaves all four Berkmans drifting toward highs and lows unknown, each of them only dimly aware that, no matter what the movies tell us, we never really come of age. Read full review
100
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Squid keeps you on your toes, but payoffs will have you smiling - maybe in rueful recognition of the truth - in scene after scene. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
In hovering, The Squid and the Whale becomes its own realistic display of family entropy, as cautionary as it is educational. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Baumbach captures the ways in which children takes sides in a war they can't even begin to comprehend. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Isn't easy to watch, but it's beautifully written and acted, with a sharp eye for the small embarrassments of divorce. Read full review
91
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Bitterly funny about divorce, it's even sharper and more original about intellectuals and their discontent. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Corliss
The Squid and the Whale is domestic tragedy recollected as comedy: a film whose catalog of deceits and embarrassments, and of love pratfalling over itself, makes it as (excruciatingly) painful as it is (exhilaratingly) funny. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Both sharply comical and piercingly sad. Mr. Baumbach surveys the members of the flawed, collapsing Berkman family with sympathy but without mercy, noting their individual and collective failures and imperfections with relentless precision. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Acutely observed, faultlessly acted, graced with piercing emotion and unsparing honesty, it will make you laugh because you can't bear to cry. Read full review
90
The New YorkerDavid Denby
A satirical comedy--ruthless and heartbreaking, but a comedy nonetheless. The movie is also about disintegration and the possibility of rebirth. In other words, it’s a small miracle. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It packs a hefty emotional wallop. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A great divorce movie. It's also one of the canniest comedies ever made about a certain kind of literary pretension. Read full review
88
New York PostKyle Smith
With its dry wit and all-star household, Baumbach's movie resembles Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" without the heavy whimsy. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Without jerking tears or reducing the acid content of his wit, Baumbach's humane movie gets under your skin. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The young actors' performances are particularly haunting. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
If the kids give the movie its momentum, its fascination comes from a more static source -- the father. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Insightful, funny-sad memoir of divorce, intellectual style and emotional rebirth. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
All I know is, it is better to be the whale than the squid. Whales inspire major novels. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
This is one cinematic novella that stays with you for quite a while. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Daniels gives a career-best performance. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Tender, cruel, and very funny, Baumbach's fourth feature turns family history into a sort of urban myth. Read full review
80
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Baumbach crams an impressive amount of characterization and humor into 82 minutes. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
It's an unflinchingly raw and honest look at a family splitting apart, and it seldom strikes an unconvincing or inauthentic note. Though it surveys rocky adolescent emotional terrain from the safe distance of adulthood, The Squid And The Whale still resonates with the sting of a fresh wound. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
Baumbach weds his verbal gifts to a fresh visual acuity that brings layers of rich detail to a portrait of a family coping, poorly, with self-inflicted change. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This story doesn't just belong to them anymore. This richly observed, sometimes heartbreaking movie has become ours, too. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
The implied critique of progressive, bohemian parenting is devastating--wise and nuanced, with the painful hilarity of truth. Read full review
80
EmpireAdam Smith
Painful, funny and beautifully acted, by Jeff Daniels particularly, who gives a career-best performance. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
An entertaining and perceptive film with one big problem. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Jeff Daniels, an actor who is often relegated to inoffensive supporting roles, surprises with the power and intensity of his performance. Read full review
70
VarietyScott Foundas
Pic makes up in strong performances and wry observation what it sometimes lacks in narrative drive. Result is a perceptive (and unexpectedly moving) portrait of lives in crisis. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
The hole in the film isn't a reflection on Linney's performance. It's as if Baumbach, his hands full of oily whale blubber, didn't want to deal with an exploding sac of squid ink. And who can blame him, really? Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Has so much going for it -- including intelligent performances that mesh beautifully, and a keen understanding of how seemingly small moments can rattle the foundations of families -- that you walk away from it feeling it should add up to more. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
All four of the roles are written with pungency. There is even an implication that the two adults realize the triteness of the situation and that they--the characters, not Baumbach--want to speak from inner sources, not from a script. Baumbach pulls this off with some sting and wit. Read full review
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