Twelve and Holding 2006

Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune: The kids deliver uniformly solid, occasionally remarkable performances. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Tough and troubling drama. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: These are strange, heartbreaking, emotionally wounded kids. I found myself rooting for them. But the adults are caricatures, [and] the film feels condescending in parts. Read more

Hap Erstein, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The film careens from crisis to crisis. Yet each time it threatens to spin out of control, [director Michael] Cuesta demonstrates a firm hand that keeps us leaning in with interest. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The surface slickness ultimately makes Twelve And Holding awful. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Cuesta prizes curiosity and perception over conflict resolution. He likes the way kids take their cues from adults and the ways they revolt against them. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: Smart, compassionate filmmaking that captures both the intricacies and the tragedy of contemporary adolescence. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Most of the time ... we are watching pathology without benefit of insight. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Flawed but compassionate study of kids struggling with grown-up issues without much adult supervison. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: That a film about kids dares to be so without being exploitive or easy is both astonishing and admirable, if also shockingly harsh at times. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The young cast is terrific, giving the stories unearned weight. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The film is as oblivious as the adults. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Loss is a big part of 12 and Holding. So is identity. But its scope is much larger, and its echoes far more resonant. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Honest acting and balanced writing create a realistic snapshot of adolescent angst. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: In sum, 12 and Holding is a movie with better parts than a whole. But where it's right, it's really right. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: They are believable 12-year olds: intelligent (but not too intelligent) yet naive, and trying with mixed success to navigate the path of adolescence. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Twelve and Holding could have been a series of horror stories, but the filmmakers and their gifted young actors somehow negotiate the horrors and generate a deep sympathy. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Raw and unpredictable. It's also compelling. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The stories coexist without intersecting, and the film would benefit from a stronger narrative spine, but bringing together three such gifted young actors in a single film is a minor miracle. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: One of those American indie films that can be filed into the diagnostic category of Facile with Delusions of Profundity. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Cuesta entices extraordinary performances out of his young actors. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: ... a film that never quite equals the sum of its many intriguing parts. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: The movie sometimes grows precarious from the weight of too many crises and hairpin turns from comedy to drama. But both script and direction are ultimately up to the task, trumping occasional improbability with sharp observation. Read more

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: In Cuesta's cynical formulation, the pretense of empathy is simply license to mock, gawk, and vulgarize. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Follows the youngsters over the course of a tumultuous year, during which time Cuesta and screenwriter Anthony Cipriano succeed in making the audience care desperately whether they're okay and whether the adults in their lives do the right thing. Read more