65
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The PlaylistAndrew CrumpThe PlaylistAndrew CrumpIt’s exciting as a raw, provocative, and vividly realized cinema of sensation. Wood doesn’t invite us to observe White Girl so much as she invites us to involve ourselves in its drama.
- 83IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichElizabeth Wood’s fire-breathing debut is an adrenalized shot of ecstasy and entitlement, a fully committed cautionary tale that’s able to follow through on its premise because — like the remarkable young actress who plays its heroine — the film is unafraid of being utterly loathsome.
- 80The GuardianLanre BakareThe GuardianLanre BakareButtons will definitely be pushed by White Girl, but after the moral panic hopefully people will still be talking about the film itself.
- 80ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyUnafraid to expose her character's weaknesses and degradation, White Girl establishes Wood as a brazen new talent to watch.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinSeductive and repellent by turns, it’s a title that will provoke fierce love-or-hate reactions, but there’s no question it augurs the arrival of a powerful, audacious new directorial talent.
- 60The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodyThe movie persuasively depicts the appallingly casual reduction of a woman’s body to a commodity and the oppressive inequalities of a justice system that clobbers the poor and the nonwhite into desperate submission. The power of these premises makes the movie’s vain sensationalism all the more unfortunate.
- 58The Film StageJohn FinkThe Film StageJohn FinkI admire the tenacity and fearlessness of Wood to take on these issues head-on. In a playground of stripped-down indies of rough edges, encouraging sparse narratives, understatement and minimalism, Elizabeth Wood has made a film that feels fresh even if it offers little introspection and commentary on the fire that it plays with. And thus is the flaw of White Girl.
- 50VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeAs much as White Girl has to offer in raw immediacy, it lacks the distance to offer much in the way of meaningful commentary, distinguishing itself (for the worse) from such earth-shaking social critics as Bret Easton Ellis and Harmony Korine.
- 50Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneIt's an entertaining and unapologetic tale of female risk-taking, filled with clever camerawork, but the characters remain shallow.
- 50The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerThe A.V. ClubJesse HassengerUltimately, Wood doesn’t have much time to treat the romance between Leah and Blue with any more depth than the characters. It’s a shame. Her final shot would have real power in a richer, more perceptive film.