Vi är bäst! 2013

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: No film I've seen so far this year has provided the sheer moviegoing pleasure of "We Are the Best!'' Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It's a being-of-age story, in Swedish with English subtitles, the age being early adolescence, when kids with throbbing hearts and incompletely wired brains are full of passion and blithe illogic. Read more

Guy Lodge, Variety: Lukas Moodysson makes a sweet, spirited return to form with this utterly delightful evocation of early teenage life. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: The film's surface is as spiky as its protagonists' hair and wardrobe, but the overall effect can only be described as downright endearing. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: This is a knowing film, and a liberating one. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "We Are the Best!" is a messy, congenial empowerment story that knows how aggravating adolescence can be when you refuse to fit in. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: One of the funniest and happiest movies I've ever seen about early adolescent girls and their wayward, fitful joyousness. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The whole thing is very smart and sweet, as are the performances. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Funny and frank in its observations, the film is a delightful snapshot of female friendship at that age, from the giddy highs to the melancholy funks, from the sustaining bonds to the jealousies and stinging betrayals. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: If ever a movie earned the exclamation point in its title, it's Lukas Moodysson's "We Are the Best!" Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: It's a title that makes quite a statement. Few viewers will be inclined to argue. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: There just aren't enough films about teen-age girl punk bands made by left-wing feminist Swedish Christian males. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: A pallid and terminally cutesy movie that succeeds by stoking blandly happy feelings. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Audiences can be pleased to find a story in which its young female characters aren't victims, or even pretty little liars, but just friends. And good ones, at that. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Sometimes too faithful to teenage aimlessness, We Are the Best! can be shapeless and uneventful. But the movie often jolts to life, whether with outbursts of hostility or moments of gleeful female bonding. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Swedish auteur Lukas Moodysson returns to his roots here with a charming coming-of-age drama. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Sweet and rambunctious ... Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: The movie is refreshingly sensitive to gender, but also transcends it. What unites the three clashing heroines is their resistance to conventional cliques and schoolhouse conformity. In more ways than one, they're a band of outsiders. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [Moodysson] captures the crushing urgency and emotional craziness of youth. It's not blood that flows through these girls' veins, it's nitroglycerin. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: What we have here is an exhilarating blast of a movie, full of heart but still punk rock... We Are the Best! is loud, crude, socially irresponsible and totally irresistible. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: It's impossible not to root for these appealing if flawed youngsters. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: We Are the Best! is the rare film about childhood friendship that seems to take place inside the world of children, not filtered through an adult scrim of nostalgia. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The young actresses are flawless, and their ear-banging music, which remains awful throughout the film, is nonetheless full of static electricity. Read more

Pasha Malla, Globe and Mail: When the girls chant the film's titular mantra, not only do we feel like it's true, we feel we've earned the right to chant along. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: We are the Best! is smart, funny and real, an honest peek into the secret lives of girls. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: You don't have to like punk rock to fall in love with We Are the Best!; if a more joyous film comes along in 2014, then it's a good year indeed. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: A joyous celebration of youth, friendship and rebellion Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The movie has the confidence of an artist who's survived some wild years himself, experimenting with style and dispassion and realizing that sweet abandon is more than enough. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: We Are the Best! captures perfectly the aimlessness of adolescence, the waiting to become something that's so often intertwined with the desire to make something, to leave your mark on the world in some small way. Read more