Roadie 2012

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: While the excellent cast does its level, honest best with the material, the material itself feels secondhand throughout. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Mr. Eldard, who brings layers of complication to his character, makes Jimmy's vulnerability palpable, while Ms. Hennessy shows you her character's carelessness and opportunism. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A fresh alternative to typical indie-cinema wallowing. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Aside from the entertaining specificity about its setting and its protagonist's profession, Roadie is as disappointingly rote as its standard setup suggests. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: Assembles the usual ingredients into an average, innocuous film, something that isn't good enough to recommend or bad enough to avoid. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The hugely sympathetic Eldard ("Super 8") gives this slim movie a real, beating heart. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Rare is the film that refuses to judge its flawed characters, or that grasps the ache of nostalgia while remaining clear-eyed in the face of reality. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: "Roadie" is short on narrative momentum, but it's a perfectly attuned character study of this rock relic and his middle-aged sorrows. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I simultaneously want to endorse its ambition and nerve and report that it's a very mixed bag. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: A lot of what takes place in "Roadie" feels overly familiar, and the film could have been a wallow in pathos except for the performances, especially that of Eldard. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Roadie has the stench of freshman-year mandatory creative writing all over it, from its cribs of Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller to an ending that's embarrassingly, clangingly metaphorical. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll get a markedly downbeat spin in Roadie, helmer Michael Cuesta's take on youthful dreams gone out of tune. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: Eldard, with eyes projecting adolescent vulnerability and a body lost to awkward midlife chub, is enough to redeem Cuesta's indie commonplaces. Read more