85
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJafar Panahi's wonderfully funny, outspoken shaggy-dog story, a light counterweight to his sadder 2000 feminist drama "The Circle."
- 91Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerThe interaction between soldiers and captives becomes a microcosm for an entire culture. It's a wisp of a movie but it has stayed with me longer than much supposedly weightier fare.
- 90Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanOffside is blatantly metaphoric and powerfully concrete, deceptively simple and highly sophisticated in its formal intelligence.
- 88PremiereGlenn KennyPremiereGlenn KennyThe masterly Panahi concocts a spellbinding, often corrosively and/or warmly funny story in which love of both country and sport tries to, but doesn't quite, transcend dogmatic and ingrained difference.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttWomen's roles and the eternal fight to expand their rights in Iranian society get a light, hugely entertaining treatment in Jafar Panahi's Offsides.
- 80VarietyDeborah YoungVarietyDeborah YoungIn his most accessible and spontaneous picture, ranking Iranian helmer Jafar Panahi reveals unsuspected comic gifts barely visible in his dramatic festival winners "The White Balloon," "The Circle" and "Crimson Gold."
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranA charming, character-driven film that conveys enormous feeling for its people
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottWhile the gist of Offside is the same (as "The Circle"), its tone is more insouciant, as it celebrates the guile and toughness of its heroines while casting a sympathetic glance at the ethical quandaries facing their jailers.
- 70SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirThere's a commitment to half-improvised, ground-level realism that lends the picture news value and an obvious urgency.
- 70Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternThe delicately subversive Mr. Panahi makes his subjects perfectly clear -- the stupidity of authority, and the hypocrisy of discrimination. Offside is surprisingly entertaining, and edifying to boot.