The Education of Charlie Banks 2007

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: You take one scene that doesn't quite get there followed by another scene that doesn't quite get there, all of a sudden you've got a movie that doesn't quite get there. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Thanks to sincere performances (most notably from Mr. Ritter and Eva Amurri as Charlie's upper-crust crush) and clever writing (by Peter Elkoff), the movie never becomes maudlin. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: Too often Durst's direction is overly earnest, heavy in long takes, atmosphere wise but scene foolish. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Ritter, who's like the young Ethan Hawke on a bender of violence, is an actor to watch. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: The film's potential cynicism is suffocated with a TV movie flatness, occasionally--and egregiously--spackled with sentimental music that makes it sag when it should slice. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Another nicely understated performance from Jesse Eisenberg anchors this shambling drama, the latest film from Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The Education of Charlie Banks wants to be The Great Gatsby of college movies. It falls a tad short. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I fully recommend The Education of Charlie Banks to anyone looking for something truly and subtly different. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: There's enough sweetness, and enough just-under-the-surface intelligence, in "The Education of Charlie Banks" to suggest that Durst may have a future as a filmmaker. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: One of those voice-over memory stories about a college student coming to terms with the bully who haunted his childhood. Read more

Greg Quill, Toronto Star: An earnest, if romanticized, examination of the American class system in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the eternally confounding politics of acceptance and exclusion. Read more

Stephen Garrett, Time Out: For a man prone to unleashed inhibitions, [director] Durst's creative approach feels all bottled up. Read more

Vadim Rizov, Village Voice: If it's a failure, at least it's a laudable one instead of cynically by-the-numbers. Read more