Holy Rollers 2010

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Eisenberg is such a solid, serious young actor that the film plays as social problem drama. Read more

A.O. Scott, At the Movies: Eisenberg showed this character's dilemma in, I thought, a really smart way. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Holy Rollers fuses a somber, old-world palette with a jittery urban unease -- a good mix of tones. It's also wonderfully acted. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The film is said to have been inspired by a true story, but the inspiration was insufficient, even though Mr. Asch has a strong sense of place and displays a confident touch with some of the action sequences. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's not a terrible movie, but all the way through you feel as if you've already seen it. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Holy Rollers gives a fascinating story the low-rent TV-movie treatment. Ecstasy profiteers and Hasidic Jews both deserve better than Asch's glum slog through their disparate worlds. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Inspired by an actual late-1990s case in which young Orthodox Brooklynites served as mules for an international drug ring, Holy Rollers has a great dramatic premise and no idea where to take it. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: This lackluster indie proves that the flattening power of cliche can trump even the most exotic social setting. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: How could such a high concept sink so low? Read more

Christopher Kelly, Dallas Morning News: The tense dynamic between these two fine actors, not to mention Asch's confident feel for New York City circa the late-1990s, keeps this slightly undercooked but wholly engrossing melodrama on course. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Holy Rollers feels staged and exoticized in the way stories about insular communities often do when told by outsiders. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: Holy Rollers never quite catches fire ... still, it's an often evocative dip into unique territory fleshed out by a highly convincing cast. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: It's sadder and scarier than its predecessors, but it also may be the most important chapter in the tale. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Holy Rollers tells a startling, true story about drugs and religion in a manner so respectfully muted, it's hard not to wish first-time director Kevin Asch had tarted it up a little. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Eisenberg never makes Sam's seduction entirely convincing, and Asch goes so far out of his way to avoid sensationalizing the material that Holy Rollers is a bit of a snooze. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Part of the film's ability to hold attention must be credited to the guileless sincerity of Jesse Eisenberg's performance. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie relates to its story as Sam relates to women: Look, talk, but don't get too close. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Holy Rollers offers an intriguing portrait of an insular community, but its recounting of the seduction of a bright young man by the surrounding culture is heavy-handed. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film is slight, but Eisenberg is a deadpan delight. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: As a thriller, it's bubkes. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The scenes of family conflict are sketchily dramatized. We never get to the place where the two parts of Sam's personality meet -- the devoted son and sharp-dealing criminal. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: This is moviemaking on autopilot. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: It's gratifying to see Eisenberg move past nerdy-cutie parts; his slim shoulders, it seems, are capable of handling more than Michael Cera's leftovers. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Asch's first feature is intelligent, respectable yet curiously muted in tone and impact, never fully catching the viewer up in either its crime saga or its account of individual rebellion within an insular religious community. Read more

Andrew Schenker, Village Voice: Failing to generate either excitement as a crime story or credibility as a morality play, the film ultimately confirms the traditional values that helped push its confused lead to the brink of damnation in the first place. Read more