This is a film that succeeds in holding all its elements in balance - and in doing so, arrives at a depth of feeling that isn't commonplace at all.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 3, 2018

And as the film enters into its final third, Plummer is steady and brilliant demonstrating not only Charley's growth, but also how his naivety becomes mixed with darkness.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 27, 2018

For all its sometimes over-episodic structure, Haigh has crafted a quietly affecting coming-of-age journey tale sustained by a central performance that never feels forced or contrived.

| May 9, 2018

A performance of remarkable depth, candour and vulnerability by rising star Charlie Plummer lies at the heart of this terrifically moving fourth feature film from British writer-director Andrew Haigh.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 7, 2018

Haigh's new film has the substance and emotional heft to be considered a masterpiece.

| Original Score: 5/5 | May 4, 2018

An unvarnished fable that falls somewhere between The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Grapes of Wrath.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 3, 2018

Rising star Charlie Plummer is mesmerizing...

| May 3, 2018

Plummer gives an excellent performance: watchful, sensitive, delicate and yet possessed of a survivor's impassive quality.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 3, 2018

This may not be Andrew Haigh's best film. But its slow-burning authenticity suggests a versatility to go with his acuity for credible characters in recognisable situations.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 3, 2018

In the second half of the film, the improbabilities mount and sentimentality creeps in. This, though, is still powerful and poignant filmmaking.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 2, 2018

Lean on Pete can feel like Dickens, under a starry and menacing American sky.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 2, 2018

Throughout, Plummer is mesmerizing, his sunken eyes and gaunt face telling of the layers of hardships Charley is forced to endure.

| Original Score: A | Apr 20, 2018

"Lean on Pete" demands a different kind of attention from moviegoers. But the rewards are worth it.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 19, 2018

The film is a showcase for a very promising young actor named Charlie Plummer. Lanky, sensitive but assured, Plummer gives his character, 15-year-old Charley, a sense of raw decency maintained through trying circumstances.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 19, 2018

Lean on Pete achieves a visual elegance that grows more expansive and expressive as it goes along.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 13, 2018

There is a disquieting sense that the director has fallen prey to the poetics of space at the expense of the lives within it.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 13, 2018

It's hard to imagine anyone watching Lean on Pete and not rooting hard for Charley's wish to come true.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Apr 12, 2018

It takes place in a world films rarely show, one where the crusty mentor lacks a heart of gold and where country music plays in every diner, but the people eating there are hard, not homespun.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 12, 2018

The words in his new film are pungent in themselves, but they're given greater power by Mr. Plummer's remarkable performance.

| Apr 12, 2018

Plummer's understated intensity seizes our attention and holds it.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 12, 2018