53
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorSome psychobabble ("We're all trying to be who we are") is inevitable, but somehow or other the thing works, largely because the acting, though primarily reactive, invests the movie with enough immediacy and specificity to turn the most excruciating banality into an original thought.
- 75New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanThe sort of independent-film project that could have been disastrous in less-skilled hands. But Freeman's direction is so deft and the performances so natural that her remarkable experiment ends up feeling more realistic than most documentaries.
- 70Village VoiceEd ParkVillage VoiceEd ParkThough the characters are in fact sustained improvisations, the roles feel inhabited rather than acted -- a quality acutely present in scenes of excruciating awkwardness.
- 63New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanIt too often looks and feels like a high-concept home movie, thanks to cinematography that's crude and ugly even by the standards of documentary video. But Group is also a remarkably believable piece of improvised theater.
- 63Boston GlobeBoston GlobeIs it one of Oprah's book club meetings?
- 60TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxDe Marken and Freeman preserve the group dynamic by dividing the screen into six parts, each mini-frame capturing actions and reactions from a different camera angle, and while the film drags in spots, the performances are unusually powerful.
- 50Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe movie teeters on a slippery dividing line between realism and fiction. It gains power from the mercurial nature of its improvised acting and split-screen camera work, though.
- 40New Times (L.A.)Jean OppenheimerNew Times (L.A.)Jean OppenheimerThe film was shot with six cameras simultaneously and the images are projected on six split screens, à la Mike Figgis' "Time Code." While the subject's appeal is limited and the film's 106-minute running time excessive, viewers who do respond to the pic will find it raw, real and cathartic.
- 40Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasThe well-intended Group is nevertheless problematic. It's relentlessly grueling, as therapy can be, and not everyone will be able to see a reason to watch it.
- 20The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottIt is all a contrivance; the cast and filmmakers were under the delusion that putting unhappy women in a room would lead to drama.