Zero Motivation
Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: December 3, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezOct 31, 2014
An absorbing office saga and diverting dark comedy, Zero Motivation is a surprisingly insightful coming-of-age tale, utilizing the milieu of the military to look at desire, loneliness, identity, fitting in and many aspects of everyday complex female life. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlDec 2, 2014
Zero Motivation opens as bleak, rebellious comedy but grows into a smart and moving story of entering adulthood. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniFeb 27, 2015
A delightful, sharp dramedy that skewers the topic from every angle imaginable. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireDec 4, 2014
Like classic military comedies from “Catch-22” to “M*A*S*H,” Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation offers its own appealing blend of irreverence and absurdism. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJan 15, 2015
Although its three-part structure plays out more like sketch comedy than a fully-cooked story, Lavie's debut is an impressive and entertaining one. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJan 15, 2015
Satiric, surreal, unexpected and at times wildly funny, Zero Motivation is a savage black comedy that eviscerates an unexpected target: the Israeli army. Read full review
80
SlateMiriam KruleDec 15, 2014
The mundane becomes absurd, and the hilarious turns to hilariously gruesome. Sometimes that humor underlines the characters’ struggles. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanDec 8, 2014
Zero Motivation is a shot of honesty, in which short-term goals are far more important than larger geo-political ones. Perhaps because they are the only ones over which we have any control. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubVadim RizovDec 3, 2014
Melancholy climactic trajectory aside, Zero Motivation is primarily very funny. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 18, 2014
Lavie, who directs and wrote the film, actually has more in mind than a comedy of errors. But the dramatic bits don't quite gel, and the film never quite takes off the way she apparently would like it to. Yet it's the kind of movie that offers small rewards along the way. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 11, 2014
Here’s a nice surprise, a zestful, slightly autobiographical debut feature from Israel, written and directed by a woman, Talya Lavie, that takes satirical aim at the passions, frustrations and sexual politics of women in the army. Read full review
70
The DissolveMike D'AngeloDec 2, 2014
Zero Motivation never stops being sharply funny, and there’s scarcely a hint of didacticism in its depiction of female soldiers who are essentially treated as a secretarial pool, so bored that they have to invent tasks to perform and create melodrama from scratch. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeOct 31, 2014
Comic subplots are less zany than flatly hopeless, occasionally acting as deflating metaphors for army life. Read full review
70
VarietyRonnie ScheibOct 31, 2014
Beneath the strings of gags and wisecracks run parallel threads of ruthlessness and hysteria which bring “Motivation” a little closer to “Full Metal Jacket” than “Private Benjamin” as off-screen conflicts invade the closed-in encampment. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineNick McCarthyOct 31, 2014
Zero Motivation is refreshingly casual in the depiction of its female-centric environment, but the freshness of its performances is often compromised by a directorial impulse to reduce the female experience to spiteful girl fights, virginal malaise, and bunk-bed antagonism. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 11, 2014
If the movie has a weakness, it’s that Zohar gets the most screen time, though she’s the least engaging character. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughDec 11, 2014
Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation has more substance than a sitcom, even though it’s broken down into three TV series-like episodes. But it’s no “M*A*S*H” — a film to which some have compared it — either. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 2, 2014
Everything looks authentic, at least on the surface, from the desert dust to the messy desks and the sad, barren barracks. The characters, however, are largely cartoons, and their day-to-day exchanges are as vaguely defined as their interior lives. Read full review
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