Winter Passing
Focus Features | Release Date: February 17, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is the kind of movie routinely dismissed as too slow and quiet by those who don't know it is more exciting to listen than to hear. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Rapp has clearly been influenced by such lyrically disaffected '70s movies as "Five Easy Pieces." He brings out in Deschanel a sense of yearning, an avidity, that hits home. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A classic example of a pedestrian motion picture being lifted out of mediocrity by an arresting lead performance. Zooey Deschanel doesn't just elevate Winter Passing; she carries it. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Rapp's theatrical past is evident throughout: His strongest scenes tend to be those purely character-driven moments when his sharp dialogue takes precedence over any cinematic action. Harris gives another strong performance and Ferrell is great in a comic but low-key role, but this is Deschanel's movie. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
This flawed drama about a self-destructive young actress and her reclusive novelist father has its rewards, mainly in some good performances. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A mopey meditation on family and its dysfunctions, Winter Passing is in fact of more than passing interest. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
I found the film borderline bleak, and borderline predictable, at least in its resolution, yet admirable as well. Winter Passing almost always operates on the right side of the border, the full-of-life side where compelling characters live with urgency and intensity.
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Harris, of course, is in a different league from the rest, and his depiction of the tortured writer is remarkably well-realized, considering the nonspecific yet somehow overly familiar inscrutability of the character. Despite its limitations, there's something appealing about the world Rapp has created. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Deschanel is great, with her feral eyes and Joey Ramone shag haircut, and Ferrell is fantastic. This one's worth the effort to find. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Playwright Adam Rapp, making his feature debut as writer-director, details the family dysfunction to the point of hyperbole, but over the long haul he rewards one's observation and intelligence and a more interesting story emerges. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Winter Passing plays like two indie movies trapped in one film, and Zooey Deschanel is in the better of them. Will Ferrell is in the other one. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
It's just OK. Not great. Not awful. Not particularly memorable. Not entirely forgettable. Just OK. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Performances keep the film afloat and focused whenever it threatens to drift. Deschanel, Harris and Warner are ideally cast. You might not think Ferrell would be, but he gives a different performance than I've seen from him. Read full review
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