Beautiful Girls 1996

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Portman, a budding knockout, is scene-stealingly good even in an overly showy role. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Read more

Jack Mathews, Los Angeles Times: The dialogue isn't the only problem with Beautiful Girls. The characters are bad, too. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: There is absolutely nothing going on in Beautiful Girls that you haven't seen... [in] any other artistic endeavor in which untethered young men and women, bound by geography and fortified by beer, shamble their way toward overdue maturity. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Borrowing heavily from other, better films, director Ted Demme and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg give each of their male protagonists a case of commitment angst. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: What's nicest about the film is the way it treasures the good feelings people can have for one another. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: It's the women who break the monotony of this dudes-in-flux saga... Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: Beautiful Girls is always in touch with reality but never drowned in it. Read more

Time Out: Women may be unimpressed, but men will squirm with recognition. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: This startlingly uneventful compendium of thick-headed boy-talk and female tolerance squanders a fine cast on incredibly ordinary characters and situations. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: The movie is wry, touching and fun to sit through... Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: Hutton, understated but not bland for a change, gives his best performance in years. Read more