Virginia 2010

Stephen Holden, New York Times: There are so many moving parts spinning in so many directions that this movie's purpose is inscrutable and the noise of its grinding parts distracting. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: Black seems to be aiming for some sort of loopy fantasia, a tragic fable about struggling with difference in the small-town South, but he's got more half-finished ideas than he can handle. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A strong cast can't save "Virginia," Dustin Lance Black's film about a schizophrenic mom in a small Virginia beach town. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: Presumably a glib attack on sanctimonious small-town religious hypocrisy informed by Black's own strict Mormon upbringing, the film is tonally all over the place, eventually settling in a rut that comes a lot closer to resembling bad camp than edgy satire Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: Set among the hangdog hicks and arcade attractions of a fictional Southern beach town, the loosely autobiographical movie aims for roller-coaster passion but only flatlines. Read more

Scott Tobias, NPR: The result here is the type of calamity that should be more compelling than it is. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The movie as a whole falls victim to a dewy kind of Tennessee Williams-itis... Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A bravely demented semi-autobiographical drama that never lives up to the potential of its high-powered cast. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: It's all rather wacky and hard to follow or fathom, although maybe that's attributable to Virginia's schizophrenia veering off on its delusional phase. Read more

Eric Hynes, Time Out: Black's overactive melodrama is more than a representation of schizophrenia; it's the embodiment of it. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Plot twists strain believability. How could a 20-year affair between the town loon and the sheriff remain hidden from his wife in a tiny spot where gossip is a favourite sport? Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: A scattershot Southern melodrama that can't decide what it's supposed to be. Read more

Benjamin Mercer, Village Voice: The variously eccentric characters and their flat Americana-kitsch backdrop never really feel like they're part of the same movie... Read more