| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 28, 2001

Sobieski's performance in this role pretty much kills off the film.

Full Review | Oct 25, 2001

Franklin's gooey, implausible script is too ridiculous to support unexpected bouts of sincerity, and the darkness is seldom as profound as it should be.

| Oct 25, 2001

Although the movie has its moments, it's a tearjerker that jerks too hard.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 12, 2001

Beautiful and so phony it makes you urp.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 12, 2001

If the girls in Ghost World were to see this one, they'd gag.

| Oct 12, 2001

What looked like a quirky character study suddenly congealed.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2001

A touching tale of friendship and family, its sentimentality cut by the honesty of its performances.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2001

Harold & Maude it ain't.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2001

A coming-of-age story that gets it all wrong.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 12, 2001

Of all the odd couples who inhabit film, surely among the most endearing are Jennifer and Randall.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 12, 2001

Brooks' work in actress Christine Lahti's directing debut ... is the finest acting he's done since Broadcast News.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2001

Offers the curious experience of being able to believe in a screen full of first-rate actors yet not believe in anything that's happening to the people they're playing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 12, 2001

It's hard not to enjoy the amusing and sometimes touching turnarounds [Jennifer and Randall] do.

| Oct 12, 2001

A small movie full of good intentions and wildly erratic execution.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 12, 2001

Brooks guards the movie from overheating in a surfeit of warmedy.

| Original Score: C- | Oct 12, 2001

These two characters are so particular and sympathetic that the whole movie could simply observe them.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 12, 2001

What makes My First Mister a successful feature directing debut for Lahti is the emotional veracity it summons.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2001

A nicely observed, well-acted tale of mismatched friendship, until it takes a dive for the easy resolutions down the stretch.

Full Review | Oct 11, 2001

A human-scale comedy that reaches across generations to tickle, connect and embrace.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 11, 2001