Duck Butter only succeeds in making its characters feel uncomfortably trapped in a pact of their own making.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 1, 2021

Both Costa and Shawkat have intoxicating chemistry that makes the film worth watching. However... even though the story is intentionally simplistic, it still doesn't have much payoff by the end.

| Oct 9, 2020

Duck Butter is an odd movie, anchored and made great by sincere and painful writing, as well as two superb, often quite funny and raw performances that are among the bravest I've seen so far this year.

| Jun 11, 2020

The movie is almost entirely conceptual. It's not one for the history books. Still, it left such a warm spot of admiration in my heart after it was all said and done.

| Sep 11, 2019

Shawkat, who co-wrote the screenplay with Arteta, is winsome and appealing. Costa's Sergio sometimes plays the cliche of the exotic foreigner with expansive dramatic feeling, but the chemistry between the actresses carries the film through.

| Original Score: B | Oct 21, 2018

Cleverly weaves in a thought-provoking statement on connection and relationships while providing charismatic performances by writer/actress Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 25, 2018

The sex was good but the delirious lesbian mumblecore didn't leave a lasting impression.

| Aug 2, 2018

There's a heartfelt authenticity that overcomes structural familiarity in this tender lesbian romance.

| Jul 6, 2018

It is not a light movie (as the trailers might suggest), but it's a unique, refreshing one, driven by remarkable performances from Shawkat and Costa.

| Jul 3, 2018

This movie boldly sticks its nose where others don't.

| Jun 12, 2018

Laia Costa and especially Alia Shawkat give it some impressive effort performance-wise, but their characters' budding connection is as meandering and weightless as the film which surrounds it.

| May 20, 2018

The director, Miguel Arteta (who co-wrote the script with Shawkat), finds no symbolic dimension or wider resonance in the schematic proceedings.

| May 7, 2018

What a feat for Shawkat in particular -- her myriad creative strengths are exemplified here, and I'm so excited for whatever she does next.

| May 4, 2018

Like its characters, Duck Butter is imperfect, but unlike human objects of our affection, it's attractive despite its flaws rather than because of them.

| Original Score: B- | May 4, 2018

The film starts to get more interesting as the cracks begin to appear.

| May 4, 2018

While some might be expecting shock, the unique Duck Butter ends up being honest and relatable, stripping bare the excess of what we often fear about ourselves and those we are with.

| Apr 30, 2018

It feels like we're seeing the director's cut of an IKEA commercial.

| Apr 28, 2018

Duck Butter has a lot to offer when it comes to present-day relationships with remarkable performances from both Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa.

| Apr 27, 2018

An instant classic... a truly fresh and modern relationship movie, a portrait of two women who collide, spectacularly, for a moment in time.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 27, 2018

Just like what Naima and Sergio are doing, the movie is itself an impulsive, fleeting relationship experiment with mixed results.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 27, 2018