The Tic Code
Avalanche Releasing | Release Date: August 4, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film.comTom Keogh
Director Gary Winick ("Sweet Nothing") ingeniously complements Draper's layered approach by modulating the film's energy in fascinating ways. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Reveals real feelings. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Starts out self-consciously but gets better as it goes along, winding up as affecting as it is illuminating. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The little film is made uniquely engaging by the performance of its young star, Chris Marquette. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
If it seems to have the ingredients of an after-school special, the performances take it to another level. Gut level. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Has the schematic feel of a disease-of-the-week TV movie, but the connections made between jazz and the minds that produce it turns the film into something much more intimate and compelling. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Badly lit and at times, awkwardly inspirational, yet there's real feeling in it, especially when the movie suggests that Tourette's syndrome is every bit as pure an expression of the spirit as it is a ''disorder.'' Read full review
75
New York PostHannah Brown
Sounds bleak, but turns out to be an absorbing and lively film. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
I value the flawed Tic Code over a good many relatively flawless features because it has more heart, more life, and more spunk. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneJohn Petrakis
Works better as a sociological study than as a gripping drama. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
An honest, plainspoken and unsentimental movie. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Laura's histrionics sometimes seem forced, and Hines has to struggle to be the heel the screenplay sometimes asks him to be. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
A sympathetic but conventional disease-of-the-week movie. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Like most movies that examine specific ailments, this gawky, occasionally touching film has the feel of a dramatized case history whose purpose is to educate as much as it is to tell a story. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
What at first seems emotionally charged, ultimately comes off as contrived. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Preachy and predictable, an afterschool special in all but name. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Not entirely persuasive, not entirely schmaltzy, "The Tic Code" is one of those well-meant dramatizations... that mysteriously made it all the way to a theater near you. Read full review
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