Palo Alto 2014

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: From the first few scenes in Palo Alto it's obvious Gia Coppola is a natural director. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: A thoughtful, dreamlike (at times, nightmarish) tour through the day-to-day lives of several suburban California teens. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Mr. Franco must have had a very boring adolescence, because Palo Alto is a very boring movie. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It's essentially plotless and slowly paced ... but astutely observed, full of fine performances ... Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ultimately, "Palo Alto" is a messy yet haunting portrait of a particular time in life. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Gia Coppola proves to have quite the eye, if not quite the natural storytelling instinct of her cinematic kin, serving up a remarkably assured feature debut with "Palo Alto." Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: [Coppola's] sense of visual composition, which betrays a Gus Van Sant influence, ensures that Palo Alto remains interesting to look at even as it runs out of ideas. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's accurate to say that "Palo Alto" is another movie by another Coppola about the lives of the rich, bored and disaffected, but that description sells the movie short. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "Palo Alto" has a strong feel for youthful fumblings that fall between self-pity and self-definition, and it's especially wise about the parallel world of American adolescents ... Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The movie often recalls Larry Clark's early work in its effortless authenticity, though in contrast to his emotional brutality, the tone here is gentle and understanding. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: That Coppola finds occasional grace and spirit here shows understanding and compassion. Her next assignment? Make a movie that's not about the troubles of the privileged and bored. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: While it shows Coppola has talent, it's also as aimless as her characters' self-absorbed, self-medicated, joyless lives. Read more

David Ehrlich, Film.com: One of the best movies ever made about high school life in America. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: A promising debut from a third-generation Coppola. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: Conjures a delicate, very specific sense of middle-class adolescence, the indeterminate, nascent feelings of the teenage years. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: While "Palo Alto" might not point the teen genre into revolutionary new directions, it does achieve a major goal: Putting its talented filmmaker and cast on the cinematic map. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A pale imitation of the early novels of Bret Easton Ellis, who wrote about young ennui and aimlessness from the inside out. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Palo Alto" feels earnest and promising, but half-formed. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The catalogue of petty derelictions and frustrated yearnings is anchored by no inner world, framed by no context, and there's nothing distinctive in the twenty-six-year-old Gia Coppola's direction. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: In the end, it's all a bit too slight and self-pitying to truly engage our interest; not so much "Less Than Zero" as less than compelling. Read more

Tomas Hachard, NPR: Offers an empathetic account of teenage tribulations but also makes a good case for why the phrase "troubled youth" is needlessly tautological. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Coppola was only 26 when she made "Palo Alto." There's a striking maturity, though, to her lushly shot, nonjudgmental observation of teen life in a wealthy California suburb. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: It's a drifty, appealing story, set in the Northern California city that gives the movie its title, about that twilight period between childhood's end and the start of young adulthood. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Franco's stories, sometimes coarse and flimsy on the page, operate like launch pads for a slew of fresh, frisky performers. But the delicacy of the movie's narrative and its almost mystical thread of yearning come from Coppola. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's hard getting past the benign "menace" of the gangs, the corny out-of-touchness of the parentals, the stodgy morality of it all. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A slice-of-life story that does a good job italicizing how little moments in the big scheme of things can seem like monumental disasters while one is in high school. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Palo Alto doesn't hit you over the head with hipness. It sidles up to you, gets whispery close, then sidles away again, leaving behind an enveloping vapor that lingers for a sweet long time. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: "Palo Alto" is a delicate tapestry of suburban gothic, romance and realism, with a surprising sweetness at its core and a wonderful star performance from Emma Roberts. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "Palo Alto" is something to watch and afterward say, "Yes, high school is something like that, isn't it?" That makes this film almost but not quite worth the investment. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: These slippery slices of life feel like the most honest, relevant film portrait of adolescence in ages. Read more

Jon Frosch, The Atlantic: An example of how to turn been-there-done-that material into something luminous. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Coppola doesn't let these kids off the hook for their stupid decisions, of which they make many, but she's not judging them for their folly, either. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Palo Alto doesn't play like a ticking time bomb. Instead, the film is empathetic to a fault ... Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Palo Alto marks one of those rare films that is so accurate in its portrayal of characters that the movie suffers for it. Read more

Jake Coyle, Associated Press: "Palo Alto" doesn't chart any new ground, but its derivativeness isn't as grating as it should be. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The plotlessness of Palo Alto is its own kind of structure, forming an irregular net studded with both golden promise and opportunities for its characters to make some very bad decisions. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: The adaptation of this coming-of-age tale is stylishly brought to the screen, even if it feels a bit light on substance. Read more