Tully
Small Planet Pictures | Release Date: November 1, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Such understated storytelling, sensitive directing, and avoidance of easy filmmaking tricks are all too rare in American movies. This is truly one from the heart. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
Exceptional. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Thanks to strong performances from all, particularly Mount and Nicholson, we're with this story all the way. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Birmingham and coscreenwriter Matt Drake adapted a short story by Tom McNeal, elaborating on its plot but beautifully capturing its low-key poeticism. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
We might quarrel with the crucial decision at the end of Tully, but we have to honor it because we know it comes from a good place. So does the whole movie. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Tully is at turns heartbreaking and heart-stirring. And it's from the heartland, so I guess that makes perfect sense. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
Hilary Birmingham -- makes an impressive feature directorial debut with this rural drama. She gets first-rate performances. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Although this is director Birmingham's first feature -- she has a very sure sense of what she wants out of her cast and the ability to put it on screen. Tully may go against the grain of hipness, but that proves to be very much of a blessing. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
This is writer-director Hilary Birmingham's first film, and it's a lovely thing, as reserved and unfussy as its characters and, like them, full of surprises. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The movie's unhurried rhythm eventually works a quiet spell, and after a while you find yourself settling back, adjusting to the film's bucolic metabolism and appreciating its eye and ear for detail. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Burrus has a face that does all the talking for him -- deep creases, sad eyes, and a gray hue that hangs over him like a rain cloud. It's a remarkable performance. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
An uncommonly perceptive and finely shaded character drama. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A few scenes are a bit coy and the "big secrets" threaten to pitch into melodrama, but Birmingham keeps bringing the film back to the delicate dynamics of the relationships at its heart. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJanice Page
The film's unhurried pace is actually one of its strengths. Entirely appropriately, the tale unfolds like a lazy summer afternoon and concludes with the crisp clarity of a fall dawn. That's not just a farm movie, that's life. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
In its strongest moments, Tully has the quality of a good short story, in the way it details the underlying affection and resentment that creeps into the lives of its four main characters, played with great sensitivity by a cast of mostly unknowns. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The movie drags in some places and throbs in others, but it looks and feels like a bigger production than it actually is. The largely unknown cast is especially strong - this may be your first chance to discover them, but it won't be the last time you see them. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
A modest but finely tuned look at small-town life. Read full review
50
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The flashes of emotional eloquence from the actors (especially Fitzgerald and Julianne Nicholson, as the radiant vet student who befriends both boys) are muffled by the ultimately asphyxiating preciousness. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
It resides in that cinematic middle ground of not-bad, not-great, just okay. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
A yawn-provoking little farm melodrama. Read full review
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