Neither the script's up-to-the-minute signifiers nor its cheekily self-aware humor can entirely dispel a formulaic feel.

| Aug 10, 2014

The intelligence and unhackneyed humor of the believable, unself-conscious screenplay by fledgling director Mr. Zwick (son of veteran director Edward Zwick) deserves special praise. It never hits a false note.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 8, 2014

I was pleasantly surprised by much of "About Alex," a film that features a stronger-than-average ensemble for this subgenre even if it too often succumbs to predictable, traditional turns of Screenwriting 101.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 8, 2014

The chronicle of a less self-absorbed generation, it's less annoying than The Big Chill but also less funny.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 8, 2014

Only Plaza's performance as the troubled Sarah comes close to creating a three-dimensional character.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 7, 2014

The insight that social media fosters false intimacy is old news. The film shows only a half-formed sense of how careers have changed in 30 years.

| Aug 7, 2014

The movie stalls in a limbo of half-realized characters and superficial weightiness.

| Aug 7, 2014

About Alex still has sufficient charm, wit and occasional wisdom to make it worthwhile. Just don't expect another Big Chill.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 7, 2014

Taste, talent and lineage only go so far when nearly every line feels like it's from a script, not life. There's not a single surprise in this 96 minutes of millennial moaning.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2014

Like the online medium it fitfully critiques, the movie never digs very deep.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 7, 2014

They wonder what happened to them, how they got so serious, never stumbling on the obvious answer: YOU GREW UP, YOU DOPES.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 7, 2014

About Alex benefits from a uniformly strong cast that does its best to find moments of truth in the banal, derivative scenario they've been handed.

| Original Score: C | Aug 7, 2014

Zwick clearly wanted to update "The Big Chill," but he never pushes past the concept itself.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2014

Zwick has a good ear for dialogue, and scenes between pairs of characters are smart and intimate - a nice match for talents like Plaza and Greenfield, who are particularly fun to watch play off each other.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 6, 2014

Dramas about relationships are built on details, and too often, the ones in About Alex feel like elements of a screenplay rather than specifics from real life.

| Aug 5, 2014

...Zwick never really solves the problem of how to make a houseful of semi-likable characters into cinema.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 5, 2014

A thoroughly enjoyable if familiar reunion dramedy.

| Aug 4, 2014

It's far from flawless, but is a promising first feature with lots of charm.

| Aug 4, 2014

A satisfying and sweet debut film that will likely only get better with age (just like those eighties films).

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 4, 2014

Unambitious but amiable, it benefits from the presence of familiar talents.

| Aug 4, 2014