Broken English 2007

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Posey's comedic performances have always had a nervous vulnerability to them; here, she strips away just enough of the comedy to break our hearts. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: ...there's a resolutely indie spirit at work here that keeps things interesting even when they shouldn't be. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A promising first film with moments exceeding that promise. Read more

Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times: The low-key comedy Broken English is a textbook example of an Indiewood film: a Hollywood fantasy wrapped in plain brown paper. Read more

New York Magazine/Vulture: The filmmaking is forgettable, with an awkward script strewn with too many off-key notes. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: How Posey's neurotic, self-destructive heroine finds her way to healing is the core of this generous film, whose moral is that happiness can't begin unless you're open to its possibility. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Broken English is a conventional New York-lonely hearts story made watchable by one element and one element only: Parker Posey. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: The always-riveting and criminally underused Posey gives a beautifully calibrated performance, possibly her most realized and multidimensional to date. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Cassavetes supplies no easy answers or easy laughs, forgoing romantic-comedy beats in respect for Nora's desperation. Call this confection a romantic-dramedy with humor on wry. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: A pleasantly disposable romantic comedy. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The tour of Manhattan and Paris is fun in a privileged Sex and the City way, but the wish-fulfillment content is awfully flimsy in this debut from writer-director Zoe Cassavetes. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: ...there are reasons to catch Broken English, chief among them Posey's winning performance as a woman unsure whether to trust her romantic instincts. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: [Director] Cassavetes shows genuine, even original, talent in the way she creates emotional connections between camera and character, via fluid movement and unhinged perspective. But the advantage of having Posey as her lead shouldn't be underestimated. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: The director doesn't have the confidence to veer too far from the norm. Her touchingly quirky screenplay eventually turns into a disappointingly conventional fairy tale. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Posey is a delight throughout, and Zoe Cassavetes is clearly a filmmaker to watch. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A likable but wan romance. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: As a director, Cassavetes is a keen observer of character and social interaction. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Casavetes tells her tale, but it's one we've already seen, and she doesn't bring much that's new or fresh to the narrative. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Broken English establishes a sympathetic character, gets Parker Posey to make her real, and then grinds her in the gears of a plot we cannot believe. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Despite its schizophrenic nature and often disagreeable characteristics, Broken English has flashes of something. You might say it has an integrity of purpose, if not of execution. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Broken English doesn't break any code or offer original insights on the subject. But there's a spark whenever Posey and Poupaud are together, and Paris and Manhattan glisten in the background. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Though there's little unfamiliar here, pic's tipping the scales more toward latent-depression drama and away from typical romcom situation gags (the humor here is more offhand) makes it seem truer to life than many similar exercises. Read more

Michelle Orange, Village Voice: The film devolves into stilted-foreigner scenarios and self-help platitudes. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A welcome chance to see Posey at her flighty, edgy best. Is there an actress alive better able to convey the neuroses and self-doubts of the typical over-educated, under-challenged American woman? Read more