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Movie Overview
Cast
• Holly Hunter
• Evan Rachel Wood
• Nikki Reed
Director
• Catherine Hardwicke
MPAA Rating
R - drug use, self-destructive violence, language, and sexuality -- all involving young teens
Thirteen (2003)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 73% Fresh
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1.5/4
"Told with a hysteria usually reserved for sex-ed films"  Film Freak Central  Bill Chambers

2.5/5
"its scattered moments of clearly-realized adolescent angst are scuttled by a wandering and frequently juvenile approach"  Filmcritic.com  Chris Barsanti

A
"Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed and Holly Hunter give hard-edged, brilliant performances in this gritty coming-of-age drama. A must see!"  EDGE Boston  David Foucher

3/4
"Girls just wanna have fun in Thirteen, an uncompromising look at a young girl's descent into troubled teendom."  Movie Boeuf  David N. Butterworth

2.5/4
"... [Director Catherine] Hardwicke...clearly has talent and an eye for realism - though her reliance on the old shaky-cam gets a little tiresome after a while."  Reel Film Reviews  David Nusair

C
""Being realistic and avoiding mainstream clichés in a teen film is certainly commendable, but I'm not ready to declare this work as the eye-opener it perceives it may be."  Ozus' World Movie Reviews  Dennis Schwartz

3/4
"An uncompromising and beautifully told slice-of-life about the human condition of transitioning from a child to an adult...Evan Rachel Wood delivers one of the most courageous and emotionally raw performances in years."  TheMovieBoy.com  Dustin Putman

3/5
"Al menos una película se las arregla para decir que el “american way of life” (...) esconde terribles tragedias domésticas."  Uruguay Total  Enrique Buchichio

C
"Evan Rachel Wood's performance in 'Thirteen' is far better than 'Thirteen' is."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

B-
"How could Hardwicke and Reed have worked so many wonders along the fringes and left such a huge, gaping hole in the middle?"  Film Blather  Eugene Novikov

B-
"A very good piece of rather easy didacticism, but it doesn't go much beyond that."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

"Thirteen is a high impact psychodrama about three lost souls desperately reaching out for life preservers in a sea of troubles."  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

3.5/4
"A smart movie that does not simplify or candy-coat the rigors of the teenage years."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

5/5
"Exciting, energized indie drama shot on digital video is an eye-opening look at the ways the kids aren't all right."  Netflix  James Rocchi

4/4
"The pain of segueing into adolescence and the sheer desperation to fit in pervade every frame of this coming-of-age horror show."  Palo Alto Weekly  Jeanne Aufmuth

6/10
"Can be admired for the truths it manages to expose, but it can't shake off the cheap feel of its horror movie tactics."  Window to the Movies  Jeffrey Chen

7/10
"An important movie for all parents to see."  JoBlo's Movie Emporium  JoBlo

6/10
"...a cautionary tale, and as such it is unlikely to be heeded by teens anywhere and unlikely to be seen by the very parents who might learn the most from it."  DVDTown.com  John J. Puccio

3.5/4
"'Es un claro ejemplo de que es posible hacer películas sobre adolescentes sin burlarse de ellos o del público. Esta es una película inteligente, con neuronas y muchas agallas'"  Moviola  Jorge Avila Andrade

4.5/5
"As the girls descend into realms of the irreparable, you twist and turn in your seats, in terror for them and also in empathy for Wood's character."  Cinerina  Karina Montgomery

A
"a searingly raw and accomplished piece of work"  Reeling Reviews  Laura Clifford

"[An] exhausting and borderline exploitive look at contemporary teendom."  Flick Filosopher  MaryAnn Johanson

B+
"They say that the two worst years of a woman's life are the year she is 13 and the year her daughter is. This film gives us both at once."  Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies  Nell Minow

B-
"A rather basic tale about the perils of going along with the in-crowd and the extremes to which teenagers will act out for attention."  Lessons of Darkness  Nick Schager

"'Thirteen' is the kind of film (like the even-worse 'Kids') that will be described as 'shocking' and 'a wake-up call' by critics who haven’t had any contact with actual kids since their own adolescence."  Critic Doctor  Peter Sobczynski

A-
"[Director] Catherine Hardwicke provides a poignant, powerful look into a part of American life, the teen rite of passage, that is incredibly eye opening – and a little scary."  Reeling Reviews  Robin Clifford

A-
"... despite the raw gut-punch of its direction, its power lies in compassion, not sensationalism."  Seattle Post-Intelligencer  Sean Axmaker

C
"Dramatic without being totally original, [and] shocking without being too provocative."  Eclipse Magazine  Sean O'Connell

"It's just the latest in the long and proud tradition of pictures that exclaim, with a great deal of hand-wringing, 'Kids today!' If only it brought us closer to understanding them."  Salon.com  Stephanie Zacharek

"Click here to see review"  Wolf Entertainment Guide  William Wolf

7.5/10
"Although it's not a happy tale by any means - there are no easy or pat answers or solutions - it's certainly an engaging and intriguing one sporting terrific work both in front of and behind the camera."  Screen It!  Jim Judy

7/10
Read review  Movie Gazette  Anton Bitel

3/4
Read review  Big Picture Big Sound  Joe Lozito

9/10
Read review  www.susangranger.com  Susan Granger

Read review  PopMatters  Cynthia Fuchs

Read review  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline
OFCS Rating: 73% Fresh
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