Very Good Girls
Tribeca Film | Release Date: July 25, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
35
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
6
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 28, 2014
The film never quite reconciles the banality of this love triangle with its far more interesting depiction of the rest of these characters’ lives. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJul 24, 2014
You can only imagine how much stronger the movie might have been had it fleshed out subsidiary dramas whose outlines are barely discernible. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJul 23, 2014
The casting isn’t all together unconvincing: Olsen and Fanning’s collective ability to project intelligence beyond their years works both ways, allowing them to play both precocious youths and youthful adults. But Very Good Girls catches them in between those stages, and the effect isn’t evocative so much as muddled. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineClayton DillardJul 20, 2014
Most disheartening is how the female leads aren't given ample space to develop as dynamic characters beyond the most urgent confines of the script's scenarios. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 24, 2014
The only real reason to see it is for a luminous leading turn from Dakota Fanning as Brooklyn teen Lilly. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenJul 24, 2014
Despite a finely wrought lead performance by Dakota Fanning, the drama feels more like the stuff of a mild — and dated — YA novel than an involving exploration of female experience. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJul 25, 2014
All in all, Very Good Girls is a very bad excuse to subject those of us who have enjoyed Fanning ever since 2001’s "I Am Sam" to seeing her flash her bare fanny, fondle herself provocatively and cavort in her underwear for no dramatic purpose. Yes, she should be allowed to grow up onscreen. But without a story that justifies it, it just feels sad and desperate. Read full review
30
Village VoiceChuck WilsonJul 22, 2014
Very Good Girls is a film one wants to like but can't. It just doesn't work. Read full review
30
The DissolveMike D'AngeloJul 22, 2014
Movies about female friendship are rare, so it’s dispiriting when one comes along, then hauls out the same tired plot in which both women fall for the same guy. Very Good Girls can’t even blame rampant film-industry sexism, as it was written and directed by Naomi Foner, making her directorial debut after many years as a screenwriter. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 7, 2014
The film rings false at almost every turn despite its naturalistic performances. Lacking emotional substance, it comes off as far too studied in its subdued intensity. Read full review
20
VarietyAlissa SimonJun 7, 2014
The screenplay is so vapid and cliched, and the casting so terrible, that viewers may wind up entertaining themselves with other thoughts. Read full review
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