Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
45
(29 sources)
45
(29 sources)
-
75
Entertainment Weekly
Moore makes Halley's awakening organic and touching. In an age when most teenagers are up to their eyeballs in postmodern consumer glitz, her movies seem radical not just in their retro squareness but in their unfashionable embrace of faith over ironic flippancy. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Tribune
This is a movie whose title promises to show teenage viewers how to cope with the messed-up, grown-up world they are entering, not how to make it perfect -- or even how to make sense of it. Read Full Review » -
75
Baltimore Sun
There's pleasure to be had in a film that suggests teen life can be hard without necessarily being tragic. Read Full Review » -
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
There's a surprising intelligence and gravity working beneath its bubbly surface, informed by an unusual degree of empathy for its adolescent audience and a rare willingness to confront the darker regions of youth experience. Read Full Review » -
70
Salon.com
Janney's role is smaller than Moore's, but it's hardly insignificant. Moore has youth on her side, and youth is timelessly appealing. But Janney is the bigger, more memorable presence, and she's much more fun to watch. Read Full Review » -
63
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63
-
60
Los Angeles Times
Works up some genuine emotion offset by occasional humor and creates individuals of a certain degree of complexity, but the film is glazed over with an aura of artificiality. Read Full Review » -
60
Village Voice
As Mom, Allison Janney easily dominates every scene she graces, as does Morning Zoo jock papa Peter Gallagher. Read Full Review » -
50
-
50
Chicago Sun-Times
I watched the movie with interest, yes, but not emotional involvement, and my appreciation of Moore was based more on her essence than on her character. Read Full Review » -
50
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50
Dallas Observer
Competently if unremarkably directed by Englishwoman Clare Kilner, should prove compelling enough to Moore's huge legion of fans. Read Full Review » -
50
Austin Chronicle
It’s just too much drama for one modest film to service adequately. In an effort to cram it all in, scenes abruptly jump from one to the next with nary a smooth transition in sight, relationships evolve far too quickly, and certain subplots drop out of the mix only to resurface, jarringly, much later. Read Full Review » -
50
Rolling Stone
The pop diva goes down with the bubbles in this hopelessly shallow soap opera. Read Full Review » -
50
New York Post
The sad truth is that TV series like "Dawson's Creek" do a better job with precocious teen dialogue. Read Full Review » -
50
Christian Science Monitor
Director Claire Kilner and screenwriter Neena Beber don't walk the tightrope between comedy and drama skillfully enough to make either aspect work as well as it should. Read Full Review » -
50
San Francisco Chronicle
A thoughtful but uneven teen picture, also has too much going on. Read Full Review » -
50
Miami Herald
Mostly honest in its portrayal of teen sexuality -- it exists, whether we like it or not -- but also offers up the troubling notion of teen pregnancy as romantic and magical. Read Full Review » -
42
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Kilner and crew cough up a mish-mash of contrasting tones and tempos and wind up a rather odd, misshapen curiosity that wavers into too many styles to avoid a slow death by overkill. Read Full Review » -
40
LA Weekly
How much can one girl grapple with over the course of an hour and a half? Read Full Review » -
40
Variety
A bland romance that suffers from choppy development, dramatic overload and dearth of personality. Read Full Review » -
38
USA Today
Moore and Ford rise above the hackneyed story, infusing the proceedings with their own chemistry and appeal. If only the adults responsible for this film could learn how to deal. Read Full Review » -
38
New York Daily News
Unlike pop rival Britney Spears, Moore does project star quality on the screen, but she gives Halley an edge of nastiness that makes her harder to empathize with than she should be. Read Full Review » -
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Just the umpteenth replay of the girl-meets-boy/boy-loses-girl/boy-gets-girl story. Read Full Review » -
30
Washington Post
Another soundtrack-driven, disposable, not entirely objectionable teen movie. Read Full Review » -
25
Charlotte Observer
Embodies all that's wrong with the sellout culture of Hollywood. Read Full Review » -
20
TV Guide
To call this scattered and cliché-ridden film less-than-cohesive would be generous, and Moore lacks the ability to imbue hackneyed dialogue with resonance. Read Full Review » -
20
Washington Post
A bad, unimaginative story posing pretentiously as the very opposite. Read Full Review »
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