Against all expectations, an odd-couple friendship develops. Or so this needy, Kaufmanesque indie would have us believe. In practice, however, Swinton is massively overblown and Torres too wispy and diffident to balance things out.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 8, 2024

Problemista is undeniably inventive, but it’s also rather joyless and ultimately infuriating. Like a Slinky that refuses to walk down stairs.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 5, 2024

It’s full of implausible cod-adorable happy-sad touches, the filmic equivalent of a decaf oat latte with a sprinkling of vegan gummy bears.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 3, 2024

I want [Julio Torres] to get better as a director... But he's a wonderful actor and a really smart writer.

| Mar 22, 2024

A whimsical fish-out-of-water tale following a toymaker navigating the U.S. immigration system, Problemista is a deeply considered, fantastical tromp through a mundane wonderland.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 22, 2024

An inventive, whimsical and delightfully oddball story of the immigrant experience, "Problemista" marks the promising writing and directing debut of Julio Torres.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 21, 2024

The film is very funny, but also so jam-packed – with fairytale imagery, art world tropes, caustic roommates, uncaring institutions – that as you’re watching, it can feel a bit much.

| Mar 21, 2024

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to find a creative partner who sees the world the way you do, the connection between Elizabeth and Alejandro will hit you joyfully and achingly.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 14, 2024

“Problemista” is far from perfect, but it will hit home for anyone in need of reassurance that irrational hope can triumph over even more irrational experience.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 14, 2024

Torres gifts Swinton with a frazzled but larger-than-life character and the Oscar-winning actor — one of the best in the business — makes the most of it.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 13, 2024

Julio Torres cleverly pairs absurd comedy with real stakes.

| Mar 9, 2024

To say Problemista is not for everyone isn’t really a negative. My guess is that Julio Torres would readily agree with such an assessment, given how heavily this admirably bold but uneven satire leans into the Surrealist Film Playbook...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 9, 2024

Torres’ story isn’t great — “Problemista” feels like a series of sketches — but his ideas are interesting, sometimes even inspired.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 7, 2024

Torres keeps a lot of balls in the air. But he tends to downplay the most important one: Alejandro's immigration plight.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 6, 2024

It’s a marvelous mixture of surrealism and social satire that depicts the American dream as a nightmare of bureaucracy and phone calls to customer service. There’s nothing more absurd, the film argues, than the mundane.

| Mar 5, 2024

The film, like its protagonist, feels stuck in a nascent state, leaning into Elizabeth’s shrill voice because it’s not yet certain of its own.

| Mar 5, 2024

Problemista is smart, sly, and so silly, balancing all its stresses and social commentary with a sense of wonder at the wild world and those who populate it.

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 2, 2024

It helps to be open to the whimsy, the silly, and the creative essence of “Problemista".

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 2, 2024

What Torres nails is breathtaking, especially that midnight anxiety at the ATM, the scanning for sketchy cash jobs online and, most sneakily and warmly, a blooming connection.

| Mar 2, 2024

Given the fact that Torres’ flights of bemused, borderline-quirky fancy work best in small bursts... it may be better that Swinton’s character keeps stealing the focus and jolting the film out of the comedian’s comfort zone.

| Mar 1, 2024