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THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCEMovie Reviews
Drama set just before the 2008 presidential election about Chelsea, an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who offers more than sex to her clients. Cast:Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Philip Eytan, Timothy Davis-Reed, David LevienDirector:Steven SoderberghRelease Date:May 22, 2009DVD Release:September 29, 2009From:MagnoliaRating:RLength:1 hr 17 min
SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
The Girlfriend Experience, Very Good Reviews, Mixed Key Cities
The Girlfriend Experience played in key cities to very good reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone, "What makes this a fresh provocation is not the new ways available to build a fantasy but the near-impossibility of negotiating one you can actually believe in." • And Cary Darling wrote in the Dallas Morning News, "...a deliberately chilly and clinical snapshot of a life." More Reviews Below...
The Girlfriend Experience Positive Reviews (32 Reviews, reviews below)
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...one of Steven Soderbergh's bite-size, semi-improvised, shot-on-DV doodles (like 'Bubble' or 'Full Frontal'), and it's the best one he's made."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 310 words, 05/22/09
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "...you've got to admire that Soderbergh keeps pushing himself, keeps daring to try and fail, and isn't just taking the safe route by making the same movie over and over again."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 05/21/09
Claudia Puig, USA Today: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...like cinema vérité crossed with performance art.... The life of an upscale hooker: Even in the throes of passion, it's beyond bland."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 414 words, 05/22/09
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (10 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...by turns tryingly obvious and irritatingly oblique. But I suspect that 'The Girlfriend Experience' may look different a few years from now."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,201 words, 05/22/09
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: WEAK(cg) "Nowhere near as kinky or thinky as Soderbergh's 'sex, lies and videotape'... pretends it has more on its mind than it really does."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 05/22/09
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "This film is true about human nature. It clearly sees needs and desires. It is not universal, but within its particular focus, it is unrelenting."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 895 words, 05/21/09
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "...an exquisitely filmed piece of urban impressionism... a compelling monotony... one that's never quite pleasure, never quite pain and, therefore, never quite an experience."(See all of Robert Abele's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 278 words, 05/22/09
Kyle Smith, New York Post: POOR(cg) "...another of Steven Soderbergh's 'experimen tal,' i.e., half-assed, films.... like a stag movie as conceived by the editors of the Financial Times."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 181 words, 05/22/09
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: POOR "...most of the dialogue is listless, and no matter how much Soderbergh snips and stitches, the movie is a corpse with twitching limbs..."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 529 words, 05/18/09
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...one of the director's small, experimental, semi-improvised provocations, and if it doesn't push too deep, it's pointed enough to leave a mark."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 757 words, 06/26/09
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...a film about its own making. It's also a hall of mirrors. Are we watching an authentic sacred monster playing the part of a cute little chippie -- or is it vice versa?"(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 624 words, 04/29/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...in the 'experimental' category... another venture into the fragmented and cerebral... Soderbergh's choice of leading lady puts it firmly outside the mainstream."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 403 words, 06/25/09
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Jan Stuart, Washington Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Soderbergh taps into the nervy impulses of his earliest endeavor, 'sex, lies and videotape' as well as 'Ocean's Eleven.' "(See all of Jan Stuart's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 261 words, 05/22/09
Cary Darling, Dallas Morning News: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a series of portraits, intriguingly strung out of order, that doesn't add up to much. It's a still life with a soundtrack."(See all of Cary Darling's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 353 words, 05/22/09
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "It's impossible to come away with anything resembling an emotional response.... cultural anthropology that doesn't even pretend to get into the soul of its characters."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 510 words, 05/22/09
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: WEAK(cg) "How do you tell the difference between an unskilled actor's flat performance and a skilled actor's realistic performance of an utterly flat character?"(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 344 words, 05/22/09
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: GOOD(cg) "...mixed. It looks absolutely fantastic... On the downside, Chelsea and Chris just aren't that interesting. At times, the film plays like yet another soggy reality TV show."(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 385 words, 06/12/09
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD(cg) "Stylish, inventive and cool... a Godardian inquiry into the ways in which sex and money function as transactional media at a time of diminishing economic prospects."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 218 words, 05/29/09
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a more successful dissection of human failings than Soderbergh's celebrated debut movie. Like an X-ray, the focused power of sex, lies and hi-def video cuts to the bone."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 305 words, 05/22/09
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...a film about its own making. It's also a hall of mirrors. Are we watching an authentic sacred monster playing the part of a cute little chippie -- or is it vice versa?"(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 624 words, 04/29/09
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: VERY GOOD(cg) "What makes this a fresh provocation is not the new ways available to build a fantasy but the near-impossibility of negotiating one you can actually believe in."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 336 words, 05/15/09
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "Not that 'The Girlfriend Experience' rises to the level of Godard's 'Vivre sa vie,' but it does provoke a host of issues that, wisely, it makes no attempt to resolve."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 613 words, 05/21/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...in the 'experimental' category... another venture into the fragmented and cerebral... Soderbergh's choice of leading lady puts it firmly outside the mainstream."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 403 words, 06/25/09
HIGHBROW PRESS (2 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...by turns tryingly obvious and irritatingly oblique. But I suspect that 'The Girlfriend Experience' may look different a few years from now."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,201 words, 05/22/09
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "...an exquisitely filmed piece of urban impressionism... a compelling monotony... one that's never quite pleasure, never quite pain and, therefore, never quite an experience."(See all of Robert Abele's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 278 words, 05/22/09
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: GOOD "...an exquisitely filmed piece of urban impressionism... a compelling monotony... one that's never quite pleasure, never quite pain and, therefore, never quite an experience."(See all of Robert Abele's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 278 words, 05/22/09
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...by turns tryingly obvious and irritatingly oblique. But I suspect that 'The Girlfriend Experience' may look different a few years from now."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,201 words, 05/22/09
24.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Girlfriend Experience's reviews are separated by an average 24.6 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Girlfriend Experience (32 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Girlfriend Experience's reviews cover 48.6% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 15,705 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 491 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 0.7 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Girlfriend Experience's reviews on average broke 0.7 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Girlfriend Experience's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Girlfriend Experience (32 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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