| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

If nothing else, Hawke has managed to recreate, with neurological immediacy, the sensation of being harassed by a selfish, clueless ex-lover.

| Sep 22, 2008

The movie is crisply shot and obviously heartfelt, but search elsewhere if you want the same honesty Hawke displayed as an actor in 1995's Before Sunrise and its 2004 sequel Before Sunset.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 21, 2007

The Hottest State lacks heat.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 21, 2007

[The two main characters] are in all honesty the least sympathetic and most egregiously boring romantic pair that I've seen onscreen in ages.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 21, 2007

It's a small film, it's a mild recommendation, but I still think it's worth checking out.

Full Review | Sep 18, 2007

The main point I can extract from Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State is that even a peevish and self-centered young man is capable of feeling great anguish when his girlfriend dumps him.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 7, 2007

Will the world be different, or their lives irrevocably changed, if they break up? I don't think so. Their tree falls in the forest, and nobody cares except the termites.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 7, 2007

As a director Ethan Hawke has learned a great deal from his mentor, Richard Linklater.

| Sep 7, 2007

Buy the CD and skip the movie.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 7, 2007

[Director] Hawke's sincerity - especially in his terrific new film, The Hottest State -- is also his saving grace.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 6, 2007

Ethan Hawke's film, based on the novel he wrote a decade ago, should come with a warning that it may cause bruising from heavy-handed dialogue.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 6, 2007

If the words ''based on a semiautobiographical first novel'' don't send chills up your spine, how about ''adapted for the screen and directed by the author''?

| Original Score: F | Aug 29, 2007

[An] insufferable relationship drama.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Aug 27, 2007

As soon as the credits start rolling, you can't wait to get out.

| Aug 24, 2007

As a bonus it's got the best soundtrack of any movie this year. Hawke, who is the first cousin once removed of Tennesee Williams, proves himself to have a good eye for the small world of big love.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 24, 2007

Hawke, though, who is very good as the young man's estranged father, had best stick to what he does best.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 24, 2007

Ethan Hawke's earnest, talky film The Hottest State, which he adapted from his own semi-autobiographical 1997 novel, doggedly peels away the gloss to dive into the emotional swamp where two young people get lost in each other.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 24, 2007

At times this indie is as repetitive and self-indulgent as its protagonist, but it captures a bit of the madness of being unrequitedly in love.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 23, 2007