Girl in Progress 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: The mystery of Eva Mendes' slow-simmering career continues. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: ... when Girl in Progress works, it's a thoughtful trip -- no matter how broad some of its missteps are... Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Does it pull out all the melodramatic stops toward the end? Does it resolve its many climactic crises too neatly and too sweetly? Yes on both counts. But, then again, what did you expect? Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The movie goes soft. But it has the unpretentious energy and charm of a good YA girls' novel. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It wants audiences to know it's in on the joke though it's not always apparent that there even is a joke in the first place. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: This is being marketed as an ideal film for moms and daughters to see together on Mother's Day weekend. A long, awkward brunch sounds more fun -- and more truthful. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: This inauthentic teen tale, with its cosmetically softened edges, serves neither the young people nor the Mendes fans for whom it might be intended. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Progress acknowledges cliches but has little interest in actually subverting them, instead growing more predictable and sentimental as it goes along. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: Smart girls do stupid things, there's no doubt about it. But Ansiedad's bad behavior is supposed to be both faux and earnest, a premise that doesn't jell. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: A comedy-drama that veers between silly and serious but can't reconcile the opposing tones. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It never gives us a character we truly care about, or a consistent reason for watching. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A well-done, conscientious and funny little film that recalls "Clueless," only with more heart. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The direction ... doesn't do justice to the fairly novel concept of a young woman consciously constructing her own coming-of-age scenario. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A corny, overwritten movie made by a director with nothing to say. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Attention, women! You should never sleep with a man whose only attribute is that you want to sleep with him. I should write a book of my own. Read more

R. Emmet Sweeney, Time Out: Riggen's lethargic direction, which favors a monotonous procession of static, centrally framed compositions, doesn't help matters in the slightest. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Girl in Progress seems like a work in progress. Read more

Boyd van Hoeij, Variety: The lack of connective tissue and more explicitly drawn parallels between the storylines drags the pic down to the level of a basic TV series. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Unconvincing, flawed matriarch Mendes and junior showboat Ramirez appear to be acting in entirely different movies. Read more