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WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVINMovie Reviews
Suspense drama about a woman who grapples with feelings of grief and responsibility after her 15-year-old son commits an unforgivable act. Cast:Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra MillerDirector:Lynne RamsayRelease Date:December 9, 2011DVD Release:May 29, 2012From:OscilloscopeLength:1 hr 50 min
MAY 29, 2012
We Need to Talk About Kevin, Very Good Reviews, Mixed Key Cities
We Need to Talk About Kevin played in key cities to very good reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Ann Hornaday wrote in the Washington Post, "...thoughtful, unnerving... Swinton's Eva counts as one of the most potent physical performances on-screen this season..." • And Peter Keough wrote in the Boston Phoenix, "...no one does layered suffering like Swinton — you feel her pain and much more besides." More Reviews Below...
We Need to Talk About Kevin Positive Reviews (44 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...mesmerizing... Swinton gives an award-worthy turn... It's a fascinating debate on what parents owe their kids -- even (especially?) the ones only a mother could love."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 164 words, 01/12/12
Mary Pols, Time: VERY GOOD "...intense and atmospheric... it doesn't just bring you to the outskirts of a parent's worst nightmare; this fever dream of guilt and loss takes you straight inside."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 975 words, 12/09/11
Jake Coyle, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The structure of the film leads it on a track that can't go anywhere but where it must: The massacre at the school.... thoroughly well-crafted, if rigidly conceived..."(See all of Jake Coyle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 791 words, 01/12/12
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD(cg) "The movie is creepy, but it has no texture or depth. It's like 'The Omen' directed by Miranda July. Swinton, for all her skill, gives an overly chilly and cerebral performance."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 170 words, 12/09/11
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...director Lynne Ramsay keeps her parable raw and elemental.... Tilda Swinton is like a contained, walking, talking embodiment of Munch's 'The Scream.' "(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 701 words, 12/07/11
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...for those who watch movies not merely for entertainment but for something deeper - an honest emotional reaction, perhaps, even if that emotion is uncomfortable."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,012 words, 12/08/11
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...saturates the senses like illness or bad weather. It is beautiful and demonic... You may well need to talk about it afterward, but then again, you may be left speechless."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 819 words, 12/09/11
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "This is a mother's tale, and in Swinton's expert hands, Eva must ultimately deal with the fallout from an uncomfortable truth..."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 300 words, 12/09/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "What holds us in the film, besides director Lynne Ramsay's skill, is Tilda Swinton's fearless, ferocious performance.... this is a special performance, even for her."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 656 words, 12/09/11
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: WEAK(cg) "Swinton and Reilly make no sense as a couple... everyone's motivations manage to seem simultaneously arbitrary and inevitable pretty much all the time."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 413 words, 12/09/11
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "The film's not dull.... But it's exhausting in its obviousness, finally, and Kevin is so blatantly one step beyond Damien territory, he should have four 6's on his scalp."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 450 words, 01/27/12
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Brilliantly edited by Joe Bini... By treating Kevin's evil as a mystery to be solved, Ramsay only succeeds in making what was once allusive banal."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 641 words, 12/07/11
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...an ambitious miscalculation, artful to a fault, with a jigsaw puzzle of flashbacks with conspicuous colour design in the service of an overwrought psychological horror story."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 617 words, 02/10/12
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...in the genre of parental-dread scare flicks like 'The Demon Seed,' 'Damien: Omen II,' and 'Rosemary's Baby,' although there's no science fiction or Satanic overlay."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 397 words, 03/09/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It's a hallmark of 'Kevin's' emotional bravery and intellectual honesty that the questions haunt us long after the end credits roll."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 519 words, 03/09/12
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "...devastating... It's not easy to make such a downbeat movie compelling, but that's what director Lynne Ramsay, with great help from her star Tilda Swinton, has done."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 613 words, 01/27/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...gripping, grueling... is it one many American parents should see? Absolutely. Because in some families, some conversations have been avoided for far too long."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 596 words, 12/09/11
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "...made by people who lack courage of their convictions... a mix of the Grand Guignol and the sophomoric, covered over by a thin veneer of absolute, stone-faced grimness."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 591 words, 03/02/12
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...this is truly a domestic horror story, with no easy answers and nobody blameless.... it stays with you for a long time, like a nightmare that you can't seem to forget."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 364 words, 03/02/12
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: GOOD(cg) "...a psychological horror movie clumsily posing as social commentary... viewers are excused for laughing when we're supposed to gasp."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 786 words, 03/23/12
Tom Long, Detroit News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Many people will come away too stunned to talk about Kevin, or much else either. Others may find themselves unable to shut up about the film."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 335 words, 03/09/12
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "Tilda Swinton's performance is so complex and volcanic and transfixing that all of the film's flaws melt away.... See 'We Need to Talk About Kevin,' if only for her."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 455 words, 03/02/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (8 Reviews)
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Brilliantly edited by Joe Bini... By treating Kevin's evil as a mystery to be solved, Ramsay only succeeds in making what was once allusive banal."(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 641 words, 12/07/11
Scott Tobias, AV Club: EXCELLENT(cg) "Written as a series of confessional letters... shocks more as a portrait of maternal ambivalence than for its evocation of school massacres."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 408 words, 01/12/12
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: GOOD(cg) "...a little too facile in the way it sets up the horrific climax: Just one look at this kid and you know he's trouble, yet no one besides mom can see it."(See all of Stephanie Zacharek's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 936 words, 05/12/11
Ed Gonzalez, Slant: WEAK(cg) "...the purpose of Lynne Ramsay's hodgepodge approach is to distract us from the flimsiness of a story that suggests a snide art-house take on 'The Omen.' "(See all of Ed Gonzalez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 990 words, 12/04/11
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "...admirably takes on prickly themes of guilt and parenthood, but despite Swinton and Ramsay's artistic strengths, there's ultimately something phony about the film."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 356 words, 03/01/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (5 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...saturates the senses like illness or bad weather. It is beautiful and demonic... You may well need to talk about it afterward, but then again, you may be left speechless."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 819 words, 12/09/11
Bob Mondello, NPR: VERY GOOD "...the film's bluntness doesn't diminish the power of the nature-versus-nurture questions.... Or of Swinton's harrowing portrait of parental guilt."(See all of Bob Mondello's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 295 words, 12/09/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "What holds us in the film, besides director Lynne Ramsay's skill, is Tilda Swinton's fearless, ferocious performance.... this is a special performance, even for her."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 656 words, 12/09/11
Dana Stevens, Slate: VERY GOOD "...some people are bad because... well, the unanswerability of this question is the abyss this imperfect but powerful movie spends two hours gazing queasily into."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 871 words, 12/09/11
Leslie Felperin, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...exquisitely realized... Ramsay lets pure film technique do the heavy lifting in order to convey the desolate emotional climate that makes the central tragedy happen."(See all of Leslie Felperin's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 868 words, 05/12/11
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "This is, in a way, a real horror film about everyday things and a disconnected family... a film to think about and debate over but not one to embrace."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 909 words, 05/12/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: OUTSTANDING "What holds us in the film, besides director Lynne Ramsay's skill, is Tilda Swinton's fearless, ferocious performance.... this is a special performance, even for her."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 656 words, 12/09/11
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: EXCELLENT(cg) "...a psychologically inflected horror tale, tapping into the inexplicable and wholly irrational, about a woman's grief and moral culpability to a monstrously horrible act."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,059 words, 05/13/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...saturates the senses like illness or bad weather. It is beautiful and demonic... You may well need to talk about it afterward, but then again, you may be left speechless."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 819 words, 12/09/11
21.7 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
We Need to Talk About Kevin's reviews are separated by an average 21.7 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.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (44 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:We Need to Talk About Kevin's reviews cover 82.8% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 25,927 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 589 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
We Need to Talk About Kevin Coverage, Volume & Length (44 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 17 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
We Need to Talk About Kevin's reviews on average broke 17 days 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 We Need to Talk About Kevin's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (44 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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