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We Need to Talk About Kevin
2011
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We Need to Talk About Kevin
Positive Reviews
125
Negative reviews
35
Average Rating
3.6
/5
disturbing
american
unsettling
devastating
harrowing
All
Positive
Negative
3.0
Its all very lovely and sweet, and while this story would be just as engaging in live action, Miyazakis animation clears away the extraneous detail, r ..
Av Club
2.0
The movie is creepy, but it has no texture or depth. Its like The Omen directed by Miranda July.
EW
5.0
That the film works so brilliantly is a tribute in large part to the actors.
Rogerebert
3.0
Still, the movie is too claustrophobic, rendering it hard to watch, amazing acting or no.
Common Sense Media
5.0
This is a fascinating, multi layered and emotionally complex film that reaches a level of art without ever resorting into pretension or platitudes.
We Got This Covered
4.5
Millers portrayal of an amoral, insidious teen from hell is pitch perfect.
Austin Chronicle
5.0
Yet theres also a cutting portrait of a family at its heart that makes home life feel like civil war as Ramsay runs with Shrivers bold ideas about the ..
Time Out
1.9
When lives collide in Julys creative hands, theyre salvaged by each persons generally kind, well meaning disposition.
4.5
Lynne Ramsay returns to the world of filmmaking after a nine year hiatus, and were all the better for it.
3.8
Lynne Ramsays thoughtful, unnerving film works its strange power over viewers who are likely to find themselves as compelled as repelled by its fatall ..
4.5
A compulsively powerful adaptation of Lionel Shrivers much acclaimed bestseller.
Screen Daily
4.5
This is, in a way, a real horror film about everyday things and a disconnected family.
The Hollywood Reporter
3.5
Millers portrayal of an amoral, insidious teen from hell is pitch perfect.
3.8
Its got the same hook of superpowers in a spandex free real world environment, but has a sense of fun to it, giving the audience the action it craves.
E Film Critic
2.0
You will emerge from the theater with a need for a drink and a shower, a possible recalibration on your views regarding birth control and a burning de ..
E Film Critic
5.0
What it does do, with stomach freezing efficacy, is to swim around inside the pain of a parent whose child is a monster.
E Film Critic
5.0
Its less a credible drama of human nature than a grim fable of a bad seed growing to throttle a family.
Telegraph
4.0
With no resolution or redemption on offer, its remarkable how easily Ramsay sustains our interest right to the very end.
Telegraph
4.0
Its a domestic horror story that literally gets to us where we live, a disturbing tale told with uncompromising emotionality and great skill by filmma ..
1.3
But serious looking characters dont necessarily make for a serious movie.
San Francisco Chronicle
4.0
Guaranteed to haunt you for days, and possibly prompt a rethink on your position on parenthood.
3.0
We Need to Talk About Kevin isnt afraid of the conversation, no matter how painful.
Ny Daily News
3.5
Its probably more something to be endured rather than enjoyed. However, its certainly something deserving of attention.
JoBlo
2.5
Ezra Millers sneering, absurdly precocious evil child performance makes him just another bad seed horror villain.
The Globe And Mail
3.1
Jasper Newell isnt quite as natural (he looks too posed), but plays one of the films crucial climaxes well.
Philly
2.5
This isnt a movie about the social problem of school shootings, though; Kevin isnt a bullied teen lashing out at his tormentors, and he is in no way a ..
Philly
4.0
As a little boy, Kevin (Rocky Duer, Jasper Newell) doesnt speak and seems isolated and alienated by human contact.
Spirituality And Practice
2.0
Despite the degree of control Ramsay exercises, whats likely to stick with you...is the portrait Miller draws of unfathomable malice and Swinton of to ..
One Guys Opinion
1.5
As much as Eva suffers for Kevins crimes, her complicity might go beyond parental responsibility.
Village Voice
3.8
Ramsays camera doesnt suggest that this is just how Eva sees him unconscionably cruel.
Rogers Movie Nation
4.4
This is a depressing motion picture, yet the issues it addresses are real, especially in a world where the term childhood innocence is losing all mean ..
ReelViews
2.0
Elements of threat are established, yet everything in the picture is frustratingly ephemeral, unwilling to foster menace in a manner that reflects Kev ..
Blu Ray
2.5
As a horror film, its cheap and obvious. As a message movie its heavy handed. And as both combined, its appalling.
Combust Ible Celluloid
0.5
The boy (played by a trio of child actors) is so unremittingly evil that the movie begins to feel like a grotesque remake of that old John Ritter come ..
Chicago Reader
3.8
Refuses to take the easy route and simply condemn Kevin as evil incarnate ... or pin the blame on whatever Eva may have done to help create him.
Mark Reviews Movies
2.0
...this is not an easy story to tell and the filmmakers do it well.
2.0
Jasper Newell isnt quite as natural (he looks too posed), but plays one of the films crucial climaxes well.
3.8
Its an arty horror movie set within the context of a dysfunctional family, focusing on the massively strained relationship between a conflicted mother ..
Usa Today
3.8
The revelation that Luthra has expanded the film from a short ultimately comes as little surprise, and theres finally no labeling Lucky as anything mo ..
Reel Film Reviews
3.0
I would be more willing to suspend my disbelief if the movie didnt drag me through this stupid psychological deterministic slime. While I do admire th ..
Lariat
2.0
Kevins mother cant outsmart him, cant make him see his errors, cant reason with him.
Eric Ds Nider
4.0
The back and forth narrative makes a few plot points hard to follow, but overall this is an artful portrayal of every mothers worst nightmare.
Radio Times
4.0
The anxious parental note of the title seems to be, in this context, a tragic irrelevance.
Independent
4.4
Acting doesnt get much better than the subtly brilliant display put on by Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Rolling Stone
4.0
...the most obvious anti child rant ever realized by a mostly mainstream motion picture.
Pop Matters
1.5
As Kevin gets older, and Eva gives birth to a second child, things dont get any better.
The Wrap
5.0
Stunningly directed and brilliantly written, this is a haunting, provocative and emotionally devastating drama with an Oscar worthy central performanc ..
View London
2.5
Ramsay may be aiming for a character study of Kevin, but she ends up merely listing the ingredients needed to make a murderer.
News Day
2.0
Its a creepy and disturbing movie, but theres not a lot going on behind peoples eyes.
Cs Monitor
1.9
Swinton and Reilly make no sense as a couple, which is all of a piece with We Need To Talk About Kevin, where everyones motivations manage to seem sim ..
New York Post
1.5
Evil psycho kids can often be a guilty cinematic pleasure, but here, the pretentious, self conscious, slow direction drains all of the fun.
Film Journal International ..
4.0
This weeks new movie releases In director Lynne Ramsays devastating film We Need to Talk About Kevin, a mothers nightmare comes true.
Az Central
1.3
Some movies punish you, but you take it because youre getting something out of the bargain: an insight, a performance, art, adrenaline. Then there are ..
Boston
2.5
She doesnt approach her characters with soggy sympathy but with a cool even cruel eye.
Mountain X
3.5
So it makes sense that Young Adult feels at times like a mashup of styles and genres part curdled rom com, part psycho prom queen flick, with a little ..
Npr
2.0
Just because youre used to something doesnt mean you like it, he snarls at her.
Emanuellevy
4.5
At age six (a brilliantly cast Jasper Newell), Kevin is moody, aggressive, sneering.
Guardian
5.0
From the first, Eva doesnt like her baby and her baby doesnt like her.
Guardian
1.5
After the fact, story outline can be pieced together, but beyond essential motivation, there also remain a number of unintentional loose ends.
Reel Talk Reviews
4.5
A grim film to watch, but an unforgettable one. Because of Swintons marvelous acting, we believe every emotion she displays as her character experienc ..
Reel Talk Reviews
4.5
This is cheap grand guignol posing as a valuable insight into the male psyche.
Daily Mail
4.5
But whatever Evas maternal shortcomings, We Need To Talk About Kevin isnt a cautionary tale about the failure of nurture; its a bleak meditation on th ..
Slate
2.5
Ramsay establishes a disturbing mood from the outset, when a long, sheer curtain dances ominously in the breeze before an open door.
3.0
So by the time psychopathic Kevin (Ezra Miller) reaches 15, hes become the archery expert poster boy for wicked malevolence.
Susang Ranger
0.0
Its a deliberate example of style over content that leaves you feeling like youve been had.
Observer
4.0
The movie is at its best when it uneasily makes you weigh nature versus nurture, and will probably cause more than one person to reinvest in birth con ..
Movies
2.5
Just dont expect to get any insight into the nightmare while it plays out.
Movies
1.5
The actors are uniformly skillful (and Reillys voice is one of the current cinemas charms), but Ramsay gives them little but prefabricated attitudes t ..
New Yorker
2.0
I honestly could not take this art house Omen seriously, however much fun it may be to watch Swinton suffer and however languid and lyrical director L ..
Boston Herald
2.0
Atmospheric and beautifully shot but ultimately empty and meaningless...
Express
4.5
To say that this is not an easy film to watch is putting it mildly. No one would deny Tilda Swintons superior performance, but people were sharply div ..
Blogs Indie Wire
4.5
One of the most beautifully bleak psychological fake outs the cinemas given us in years.
Blogs Indie Wire
2.0
The creepy film paints a nasty portrait of a dysfunctional mother and son,..It tends to have a polarizing effect, feel prickles of discomfort and reco ..
Blogs Indie Wire
4.0
This isnt a movie about the social problem of school shootings, though; Kevin isnt a bullied teen lashing out at his tormentors, and he is in no way a ..
Las Vegas Weekly
4.0
Like The Omen without the supernatural guff, Kevin plays on all our worst fears about parenthood.
Total Film
5.0
Kevin is an extraordinary work from Ramsay, a filmmaker with an uncommon gift for getting at the inner psychology of her characters through striking v ..
The Atlantic
2.0
Whether theres more to Shivers novel of maternal ambivalence is immaterial.
Coles Mithey
2.0
Director Ramsay makes Kevins impact all the more felt by coming at it from all angles.
Detroit News
3.8
Either way, its doubtful youll forget the experience watching her film.
2.5
An annoying provocation with too little to say, a serious credibility deficit, a whiff of misandry, and a miscalculated, unseemly gusto for abusing it ..
Groucho Reviews
3.0
This didnt just work for me as a film... it feels like an experience only barely survived.
Hit Fix
4.4
This powerful, provocative movie breaks your heart and sends a chill up your spine simultaneously. (
Aisle Seat
5.0
Its a gripping, grueling movie, but is it one most American parents will want to watch Probably not, and I cant blame them.
Nj
3.1
Whatever you think of the philosophical weight of Ramsays film and I find it a little pat and light, less nuanced than David Foster Wallaces one liner ..
Movie Habit
4.5
Deadly Serious I dont think Ramsay failed with We Need to Talk about Kevin.
Movie Habit
5.0
The films hard wired cynicism and its tospy turvy take on childhood make for an oppressively bleak atmosphere, but the sharp script and excellent perf ..
Mirror
3.0
The kids are both good, but theyre good at playing evil, in, Im afraid, a one note way, and so the film, for me, doesnt contain any interior debate: I ..
Abc
4.0
This is a bleak and traumatic drama marked by a blistering performance from Swinton.
Digital Spy
4.0
Imagine The Good Son re dreamt by Nicolas Roeg, and you might have something close to Lynne Ramsays We Need To Talk About Kevin...
Flicks
2.0
We Need to Talk About Kevin is basically emotional torture porn as the camera lingers on Eva as she repeatedly suffers inhuman amounts of psychologica ..
Stl Today
4.4
We Need to Talk About Kevin is confrontational cinema that will leave you speechless.
Stl Today
0.5
What I saw was two hours of posturing brutalism, naff expressionism and the destruction of credibility by grand guignol.
Ft
4.4
There is no denying that hes mentally unstable with sociopathic tendencies.
Dustin Put Man
4.2
Whatever you think of the philosophical weight of Ramsays film I find it ... less nuanced than David Foster Wallaces one liner that Hobbes was simply ..
Ar Kansas Online
1.3
The use of red is so overdone that you assume the color must be paying for some sort of product placement.
Larsen On Film
4.5
A performance like Swintons so gorgeously and painfully calibrated is something to behold.
Hollywood And Fine
4.0
The question of whether evil is a product of nature or nurture is explored in the unsettling drama We Need To Talk About Kevin.
Matts Movie Reviews
2.0
As a psychological study of a shattered mother struggling to make sense of a heinous crime carried out by her teenage son, its endlessly fascinating.
Patriot Ledger
4.5
As harrowing and beautifully constructed and fully experienced as any other work of 2011 cinema.
Antagony & Ecstasy
2.5
Unfortunately, by the time it all comes to a conclusion, theres less of a reconciliation and more an endurance than an ending; the cringe worthy sound ..
Movie Crypt
4.0
The film is undeniably a bit forced in its structure and coincidences but theres a genuine quality to the performances here that really gives the piec ..
Hollywood Chicago
4.5
Lynne Ramsays We Need To Talk About Kevin might just be the scariest film about parenting yet made.
Sbs
4.5
This is a trenchant and thought provoking treatise on modern families, specifically the put upon mother, whose role is to raise, to nurture, and tragi ..
What Culture
4.0
An unconventionally structured but thoroughly riveting indie drama, propelled by a searing performance from Tilda Swinton.
No La
4.5
Better yet, its a rich and intense piece of cinema that does what Lionel Shrivers sentences cannot making an impact thats immediate and discombobulati ..
The Ooh Tray
4.0
We Need to Talk About Kevin is a tough, frightening, difficult picture, one I cant imagine watching again.
Dvd Talk
5.0
Tilda Swinton delivers one of the finest performances of her career as an American woman grappling with grief and guilt... once a bohemian free spirit ..
What So
5.0
Tilda Swinton delivers one of the finest performances of her career as an American woman grappling with grief and guilt... once a bohemian free spirit ..
What So
3.0
Swinton doesnt say much; she doesnt have to. Her tear stained eyes and anguished face carry all her emotions. In a career filled with so many terrific ..
Or Lando Weekly
2.5
Its a busy picture, but it far overshoots our willingness to care about it.
reason
4.0
The phrase problem child, even applied euphemistically, doesnt begin to describe him.
Film 4
3.0
I may not have completely liked We Need to Talk About Kevin, but because of Swinton I certainly wont forget it.
Bowling Green Daily News
4.0
Instead of shedding blood on screen, Ramsay saturates the colour palette to nausea inducing effect.
Streaming Quickflix
3.8
Its also one of the most masterfully crafted, superbly acted and brilliantly written.
Clclt
4.4
It may not be a crowd pleaser, but its not every day we get an emotional powerhouse of a film done this well.
3.5
John C. Reilly is effective as the enabling father hes a sweet little boy.
Tony Mack
3.5
A high school killing spree leads to a captivating examination of parenthood and the nature vs nurture debate.
Concrete Play Ground
1.5
So theres a lot to talk about in this striking but frustrating film, one thats good enough in some respects to amount to a serious failure.
New Republic
3.0
Nothing if not engaging and intense; it set my teeth on edge even though I knew what was coming.
Film Blather
4.4
There is no obvious bombardment of sensory stimuli, but you cant leave the film without feeling carefully manipulated in what feels like a natural and ..
Cinema Sight
4.0
Despite chopping back and forth, the narrative never feels disjointed and you certainly shouldnt get lost along the way.
Fan The Fire Magazine
4.5
We Need To Talk About Kevin doesnt just bring you to the outskirts of a parents worst nightmare; this fever dream of guilt and loss takes you straight ..
Entertainment Time
3.5
However, if you watch the movie without taking everything literally, you might understand and appreciate it more.
Daily Film Fix
4.5
From a plot standpoint, I dont buy the parental ignoring of the impudent evil and knowingly schizophrenic Kevin as a child.
3.8
Instead, Ramsay delivers an overdirected, conceptually obnoxious art film thats torture to sit through, listen to, and think about.
Boston Phoenix
5.0
This doesnt apply to those with limited mobility who may need to use other entrances.)
New York Time Out
4.5
She doesnt seem all that happy about it, and theres a suggestion of postpartum depression as well.
Washington City Paper
4.5
It may be one of those pesky films that is awful to watch but is worth watching all the same. Oh, dear.
Spectator
4.5
In his younger years, hes more forceful, more determined than a child would be (and theres something not quite right in his eyes), and as a teenager h ..
Battleship Pretension
4.5
Lynne Ramsay takes a touchy subject and makes it an emotionally jarring experience, but not in the way that youd expect.is deeply affecting and a sobe ..
Screen Anarchy
4.5
One clinical report said that the boy drips urine in his pants, doesnt make friends very easily and has twitches.
Film Festival Today
4.5
Nothing seared my consciousness like the stunning work from Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Richard Roeper
3.0
Part horror, part drama, part cautionary tale, We Need to Talk About Kevin is a film that will lodge in your memory long after the end credits.
Film.com
3.0
Stylized to the point of absurdity, We Need to Talk About Kevin is little more than a blank, tarted up cartoon, where Ramseys hyperbolic efforts seem ..
Metro Times
4.5
This nature vs. nuture argument is what gives the story its power; and Ms. Swinton does an excellent job portraying a woman ambivalent to the bone abo ..
Critics Notebook
5.0
View more MSN videosGo to MSN Video One of the most relentlessly and purposefully harrowing movies of the year...
MSN Movies
5.0
This is sensory and visceral cinema at its most compelling and expertly crafted.
Cinema Autopsy
3.0
Ramsays directorial focus on aesthetics somewhat lessens the import of the subject matter.
Patrick Nabarro
2.5
Its a new, more realistic twist on the evil kid movie likeand, except the kid in question doesnt have supernatural powers and he isnt the Antichrist, ..
From the Front Row
3.5
Great performances within a very depressing story. Do not look for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Monsters And Critics
2.5
Watching it isnt easy, but it is definitely worth having waited for.
Blog Oregonlive
1.5
It poses difficult questions, and perhaps has too easy answers. But its a grueling and fascinating interview process.
D Cist
4.5
People lead such dull and banal lives that half the people on TV, inside the TV, theyre watching TV.
World Socialist Web Site
3.5
And this is why, Swintons fantastic performance aside, WNtTAK doesnt hit it out of the park like it should.
Blogs Houston Press
4.4
I realize that, in praising the film, Ive probably talked most readers out of seeing it. But its an undeniably powerful piece of art that engages full ..
Host Madison
4.0
Not technically a horror movie, but ... could easily qualify as one of the scariest films youll ever see.
New York Metro Mix
3.5
Reilly doesnt have much to do, and the crisscrossing narrative reveals too little at a time.
7 Dvt
4.0
In the end, We Need To Talk.. offers plenty of questions about its well disguised, bleak core subject matter.
Birmingham Mail
4.0
As Eva, Tilda Swinton is sublime. Her strange beauty, so etiolated and androgynous, has never been better used.
This Is London
4.5
Emotionally complex, expertly paced and filled to bursting with Ezra Millers troublingly sexy psychopathic face.
Ultra Culture
4.5
The dark side of motherhood still remains a largely explored territory in the movies.
Ma Cleans
1.5
A mishmash of soiled diapers, leaden musical cues and underlined soul sickness, We Need to Talk About Kevin concludes on a limp retread of Bennys Vide ..
Mubi
4.5
Familial devotion has seldom been so horrifically explored on the screen.
James Wegg Review
4.0
We Need to Talk About Kevin seems purpose built to emotionally bruise.
1.5
As a prickly, leftist, brunette Armenian American, Tilda Swinton isnt, prima facie, ideal casting, but its hard to imagine a certain kind of effortful ..
Bfi
4.5
An acute and profound dissection of the genesis of a small, seemingly harmless being with an alarming potential for evil. I recommend you prepare befo ..
Excelsior
4.0
It all builds, very slowly but powerfully, to an harrowing, gripping climax.
4.5
Swinton is as mesmerising as ever, although the show is stolen by the two Kevins teenager Ezra Miller and youngster Jasper Newell.
Un Cut
1.9
The film adaptation of We Need to Talk About Kevin doesnt make the subject any clearer.
5.0
A film so impeccably created it will will take your breath away. Not that you have much breath to spare, considering the state of sustained suspense t ..
3.0
Superbly crafted, deeply unsettling...A Bad Seed for the 21st century, it raises provocative questions about nature vs. nurture when it comes to the d ..
Movie Dearest Blog Spot
5.0
The film is the comeback fans of Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar will have been hoping for, and offers more proof that Ramsay is one of the most excitin ..
Scotsman
4.5
A truly unsettling film, Lynne Ramsay returns to the big screen in spectacular fashion with WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN; her directorial vision of thi ..
4.5
One of the years most difficult to watch films is also one of its finest.
Moviedex
4.5
This scene doesnt tell us that there is hope for Kevin to redeem his soul.
Hollywood Jesus
4.5
The films nonlinear structure plunges viewers into the head swimming grief that defines Eva Khatchadourian (Swinton).
Charleston City Paper
2.0
Theres an infinitely more impactful movie to be made that deals with the same subject but doesnt take things to an unrealistic extreme. A son thats no ..
4.0
One of the most chilling social thrillers out this year with some powerhouse performances from Swinton and Miller.
Real.com
4.0
A remarkable film because it talks about taboos that we might not love our own children, that there are more victims in murder than just those who die ..
MovieFIX
3.1
This thoroughly well crafted, if rigidly conceived film could use a little more talking at least some therapy! about Kevin.
Feeds Boston
3.2
The best horror penetrates beyond external vibe to internal thought process and the film never truly takes us within the mothers head.
3.8
We Need to Talk About Kevin affirms that Lynne Ramsay is the heir apparent to Terrence Malick...
Film Freak Central Tiff Bl ..
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We Need to Talk About Kevin