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Jake Coyle, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "An interesting combination of courtroom drama, historical recreation and animated poetry... James Franco gamely attempts the daunting role of the iconic poet." (Read the full review...) 552 words, 09/23/10 Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD (cg) "...gets a great reading from modern-day beatnik-star James Franco, playing the poet with bebop passion. That's the cool part of this overloaded hybrid art-film project..." (Read the full review...) 95 words, 09/24/10 Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: VERY GOOD (cg) "One of the qualities I like about this film is that the writer-directors, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, are aware of the time when Beat scene was new." (Read the full review...) 863 words, 09/30/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive.... an exemplary work of literary criticism on film, explaining and contextualizing its source without deadening it." (Read the full review...) 902 words, 09/24/10 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "James Franco is mesmerizing as Allen Ginsberg but movie starves for story." (Read the full review...) 294 words, 09/24/10 Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...the film of 'Howl,' like its source material, is undeniably brave, committed and inventive." (Read the full review...) 450 words, 10/01/10 Lou Lumenick, New York Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "...an experimental film despite the participation of name actors... does a good job of capturing a key cultural moment from more than half a century ago." (Read the full review...) 306 words, 09/24/10 Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...well-crafted, but I wish the film showed us an additional dimension or two of the central figure, who once said the great challenge in writing, any kind of writing, is 'to write the same way you are.' " (Read the full review...) 449 words, 10/01/10 John Anderson, New York Newsday: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Seldom has a motion picture bestowed such splendor on the written/spoken word." (Read the full review...) 328 words, 10/01/10 David Edelstein, New York Magazine: EXCELLENT "...an exhilarating tribute from one form (cinema) to another (poetry).... a celebration, an analysis, a critical essay, an ode." (Read the full review...) 594 words, 09/27/10 Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "One of the qualities I like about this film is that the writer-directors, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, are aware of the time when Beat scene was new." (Read the full review...) 863 words, 09/30/10 J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "Splendid as Franco's literal characterization and overheated line readings can be, art director Eric Drooker's literal-minded animated interpretation are as sodden as a cold latke..." (Read the full review...) 236 words, 09/22/10 Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE (cg) "Allen Ginsberg's 1955 poem, spoken aloud in long-breath-length bursts by James Franco as the 29-year-old Ginsberg doing the first reading of the work, at San Francisco's Six Gallery in 1955, forms the spine of the film..." (Read the full review...) 382 words, 10/08/10 Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "Flecked with obscenity and laden with rich imagery and captivating metaphors, it rages at American capitalism and conformity, defends the underclasses and aches for creative freedom." (Read the full review...) 459 words, 10/07/10
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "James Franco delivers an impressive, beguilingly sensitive performance as the poet and Beat Generation avatar..." (Read the full review...) 275 words, 10/29/10 Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: MODERATE (cg) "...faintly interesting as history without capturing the heat, passion and manic fervor of its creation and creator.... closer to a meek whine in tone, tenor and volume." (Read the full review...) 431 words, 12/03/10 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...intelligent, well-intentioned and ultimately lifeless: 'The Half-Dead Poets Society.' " (Read the full review...) 501 words, 10/15/10 Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT (cg) "...the poem includes a good deal of foul language and descriptions of human acts that some find offensive. The film does not avoid including that aspect." (Read the full review...) 520 words, 10/22/10 Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING (cg) "It's about literature itself, the ways in which it works on the reader and the folly of applying some objective standard of decency and meaning to words on a page." (Read the full review...) 425 words, 10/22/10 Ty Burr, Boston Globe: MODERATE (cg) "Well intentioned on every level, the movie is successful only on some, and it falls flat when trying to visualize the innards of the poem itself." (Read the full review...) 689 words, 10/01/10 Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: GOOD (cg) "...not such a howling thrill, but James Franco makes a fantastic Allen Ginsberg." (Read the full review...) 497 words, 10/29/10 Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE (cg) "...a film of passion and ambition, but one whose success is intermittent at best.... the filmmakers might have been best advised to master the form before playing with it." (Read the full review...) 520 words, 09/24/10 Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...while the loose structure takes some getting used to, it's ultimately effective and at times thrilling." (Read the full review...) 397 words, 10/29/10 Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (cg) "...while it might seem like a film for experts in Ginsberg or Beat Generation literature, I suspect that the people for whom the words of 'Howl' are completely new will get more out of the picture." (Read the full review...) 290 words, 10/08/10 Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...dramatizing the inspiration, incantation and investigation of this scandalous shout from the subterraneans... the best movie ever made about poetry." (Read the full review...) 292 words, 11/05/10 Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: EXCELLENT (cg) "A messy mix of style and erratic substance... but equally interesting." (Read the full review...) 308 words, 11/18/10 Tom Long, Detroit News: EXCELLENT (cg) " 'Howl' captures 'Howl' beautifully." (Read the full review...) 311 words, 01/28/11 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: MODERATE (cg) "...a disappointingly mundane movie about a vibrant, iconoclastic subject." (Read the full review...) 376 words, 10/22/10
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "Splendid as Franco's literal characterization and overheated line readings can be, art director Eric Drooker's literal-minded animated interpretation are as sodden as a cold latke..." (Read the full review...) 236 words, 09/22/10 Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...succeeds more as a glimpse into a great artist's creative process than as a movie, though give it credit for ambition." (Read the full review...) 161 words, 09/30/10 Keith Phipps, AV Club: VERY GOOD (cg) "...often feels too respectable for its own good, preserving the facts of yesterday's rebellion while leaving it firmly in the past. Happily, Ginsberg's words still cut recklessly through the years." (Read the full review...) 471 words, 09/23/10 Lauren Wissot, Slant: MODERATE (cg) "...concept trumps story -- which makes 'Howl' feel more like a dissertation (albeit one with multiple camera angles, mixed stocks, and lots of quick cuts to liven up the dry dialogue) than an emotionally engaging film." (Read the full review...) 532 words, 09/19/10 Susan G. Cole, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "Flecked with obscenity and laden with rich imagery and captivating metaphors, it rages at American capitalism and conformity, defends the underclasses and aches for creative freedom." (Read the full review...) 459 words, 10/07/10 Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...takes a close reading of a poem and its literary footnotes, and if incomplete, it does justice to one of the greatest minds of a generation." (Read the full review...) 644 words, 10/22/10 MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING (cg) "This is some seriously, wonderfully fucked-up animation right here." (Read the full review...) 481 words, 10/08/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive.... an exemplary work of literary criticism on film, explaining and contextualizing its source without deadening it." (Read the full review...) 902 words, 09/24/10 Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...the film of 'Howl,' like its source material, is undeniably brave, committed and inventive." (Read the full review...) 450 words, 10/01/10 Dana Stevens, Slate: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...a minimalist oddity, a full-length movie devoted to the recitation, comprehension, and appreciation of a single poem... a little dogged, a little inert, a little -- how shall I say? -- high-fiber." (Read the full review...) 894 words, 09/24/10 Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...a very mixed bag. It's an oddly dry fusion of documentary and narrative film that arguably doesn't quite click on either level. But I honestly feel bad about pissing on a movie that has so much beauty and purity of spirit..." (Read the full review...) 1,277 words, 09/24/10
Todd McCarthy, Daily Variety: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...an admirable if fundamentally academic exploration... an intriguing hybrid of documentary, narrative and animated filmmaking... Adventurous but tidily formalized..." (Read the full review...) 944 words, 01/21/10 Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "...a heady flight into not just a particular poem but into the act of creativity itself... The exhilaration one feels watching this absorbing genre-bender doesn't mean the whole thing hangs together. It doesn't." (Read the full review...) 784 words, 01/21/10 Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...the film of 'Howl,' like its source material, is undeniably brave, committed and inventive." (Read the full review...) 450 words, 10/01/10 A.O. Scott, New York Times: EXCELLENT "...takes a familiar, celebrated piece of writing and makes it come alive.... an exemplary work of literary criticism on film, explaining and contextualizing its source without deadening it." (Read the full review...) 902 words, 09/24/10
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