This is one car wreck that neither provides us with survivors nor takes any victims. In other words, there's absolutely nothing there.

| Aug 28, 2019

While the slow build of the story was effective, there was also an abruptness to events employed that was extremely realistic and moving.

| Aug 22, 2018

Zany but strained period piece dramedy.

| Original Score: C+ | Jan 13, 2015

Jayne Mansfield's Car is dramatic and funny and entertaining in many parts, but the jigsaw puzzle doesn't always flow from piece to piece. For all of Thornton's directing skill, the overall film can be episodic and loses focus repeatedly.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 17, 2014

The truly superb cast of Jayne Mansfield's Car sputters in this confused melodrama that is more pre-occupied with explicitly saying everything rather than genuinely saying something.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Sep 29, 2013

It's obvious that Billy Bob Thornton is attempting something meaningful with Jayne Mansfield's Car. It's just tough to figure out what it is.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 26, 2013

There's a terrific movie struggling to escape from this overplotted, overedited, overdetermined stew ...

| Sep 16, 2013

The inconsistent tone and melodramatic tendencies unfortunately cancel out strong portrayals.

| Sep 13, 2013

A uniformly fine cast and some infrequent moments of storytelling genius keep Jayne Mansfield's Car steady most of the time.

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Sep 13, 2013

With its sprawling array of characters and anecdotal, ramshackle structure, [the film] feels more like a collection of interrelated short stories cobbled into an flavorful but ultimately unwieldy narrative.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 13, 2013

Thornton manages to balance these themes with interesting and damaged characters while also creating a strong family dynamic.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 13, 2013

It's one thing to explore the messiness of familial relationships and regret against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, and something else entirely to try and shove every jot and tiddle in place before the closing credits roll.

| Sep 13, 2013

War is hell, duh. That's still all I can figure Thornton's film amounts to.

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 13, 2013

Jayne Mansfield's Car isn't likely to set America's theaters on fire, but it's a powerful whisper of a film.

| Sep 13, 2013

Thornton, Duvall, Bacon, Hurt and LaNasa part of a rich ensemble taking a trip in 'Jayne Mansfield's Car.'

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 13, 2013

Thornton's approach is liquid enough to allow for a few poignant and unsettling moments, keeping the film captivating and organically felt before it becomes unbearable.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 13, 2013

Overall, the rambling "Jayne Mansfield's Car" is almost as big a wreck as its namesake.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 13, 2013

In its best moments, you can see what the film might have been with half a dozen fewer characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 12, 2013

The scenes in which good ol' boy mentality clashes with stuffy British sensibility are a highlight. Still, both cultures are depicted through cliches.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 12, 2013

By a certain point the deliberate pokiness and lackadaisical attitude toward character development and resolution feels like spilled food that never gets completely wiped up.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 12, 2013