The humor is lacerating and the scenes uncomfortably raw and revealing. Baumbach edits it all with a ruthless intensity, fearlessly cutting to the essence of scenes ...

| Aug 19, 2023

Marital discord receives an innovative treatment in this impressive feature.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 31, 2023

It's a medium film about parental measures. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 18, 2020

The film may offer a climb up Oscar's greasy pole for Eisenberg and Daniels.

| May 7, 2020

Beyond derivative, what The Squid and the Whale often feels like is a [Wes] Anderson film that has been filleted and its guts scooped out, leaving a hollow corpse behind.

| Jan 29, 2020

Baumbach has created an unforgettable film about horrifyingly human people.

| Jul 9, 2019

Despite the acidic tone, The Squid and the Whale is a disarmingly funny film, one that offers a wealth of insight into the modern American family.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 4, 2019

This is a warm, measured little ballad about the exquisitely sad whimsy of seeing the sanctity of your parent's union fall catastrophically down.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 3, 2018

There is something intensely agreeable to me about a film of this kind. Its nervy characters, baffled by life and bruised by its disappointments; its picky dialogue; its gentle teasing, without condescension ...

| Jan 25, 2018

Noah Baumbach's spleen is directed at the second-rate pretending that they are first-rate. This is called "punching down" and in line with America's degraded values.

| Dec 27, 2017

There is a lot of awkwardness, some genuine sadness, some tension-relieving humor, and just enough suggestion of potential growth to avoid either an overly dark ending or a phony feel-good one.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 7, 2017

The Squid and the Whale ... achieves an emotional catharsis [that] resists falling back on saccharine cliches

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 16, 2017

Try as he might to cut to the frayed nerves of a scene, Baumbach lets cuteness get in the way

| Sep 1, 2009

A simple but engrossing parable of a family set in half, and their children having to choose sides.

| Apr 29, 2009

The script is delightful, and the banter between the family members is fresh without seeming too scripted.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 21, 2007

| Original Score: 8/10 | Aug 19, 2006

Un retrato honesto y revelador de la descomposición de un matrimonio, visto desde la perspectiva de los hijos adolescentes.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 11, 2006

...Baumbach's most emotionally potent and visually coherent film to date.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 5, 2006

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 12, 2006

Doesn't break much new ground in terms of parental misconduct or adolescent sexual confusion.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 4, 2006