Sixty Six 2006

Critics score:
64 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Luke Y. Thompson, L.A. Weekly: It's cliched and gooey, but because it's English, and has Helena Bonham Carter in a rare non-gothy role, viewers may be fooled into thinking it's quirky. No. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's labeled a 'true-ish story', and the results are cheeky fun. Read more

Sam Adams, AV Club: Weiland's occasional heavy-handedness is more than redeemed by the lightness of his cast. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: [Director] Weiland pours so much heart into his autobiographically 'true-ish' story that accessibility is a nonissue. Read more

Michael Ordona, Los Angeles Times: Sixty Six may find a niche audience, but instead of depicting a boy's first steps toward manhood -- ceremony aside -- it turns into an uninvolving portrait of self-absorption. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: Sixty Six is also about accepting parents with all their frailties, coming to terms with the unfairness of life, and finding a way to switch the focus to the wonders we do have to celebrate. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Like Running with Scissors or an exceptionally cruel episode of The Wonder Years, Paul Weiland's whimsical and eye-poppingly bright comedy is shot through with cringe-inducing misery. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: You don't have to be Jewish to appreciate its uncondescending fondness for the claustrophobic warmth of family life among working-class people apprehensively inching their way toward upward mobility. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: This comedy-drama is wafer-thin, but Marsan gives it some heft as an all-too-human father. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The direction of this autobiographical tale by Paul Weiland (whose lengthy rap sheet runs all the way from Leonard Part 6 to Made of Honor) is less than subtle. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Since Mr. Weiland himself had grown up in a Jewish section of North London, he was able to include many details of his own childhood. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The story line sounds plain and simple, but the movie is enlightened by Bernie's impassioned narration and by a gallery of small comic details. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: No, it never quite achieves spirit-of-'66 euphoria, but the tally of good-natured smiles is appreciable, and the Weiland family home-movies at the close a lovely touch. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: A thick, gooey layer of voiceover narration from Bernie is just one of several tired devices that makes pic feel hackneyed, despite some choice cuts of dialogue. Read more