"The Mend" meanders from situation to situation, turning itself in the process into a wallow of dysfunction. And a claustrophobic wallow at that.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 10, 2015

Sharp dialogue and strong performances tumble around this ill-defined story like shoes in a dryer.

| Sep 10, 2015

"The Mend," about a pair of oil-and-water brothers in free fall, is by turns opaque, harsh, self-aware, indulgent and wickedly funny. It's never dull, pummeling you with its prickly smarts.

| Aug 28, 2015

The Mend finds the truths that bind families together, but it knows that everyone has to hack their own path to get there.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 26, 2015

Takes what could have easily been a mundane tale of brotherly dysfunction and turns it into something abstract and electrifying.

| Aug 24, 2015

Despite the willful worldliness of the high-stakes emotional games, the movie's downbeat street poetry devolves into moody clichés.

| Aug 24, 2015

When a random Manhattanite in a lover's quarrel opens his windows and shouts, "Save me!" to a collection of disinterested people having brunch, it's clear the film knows how far up its own ass it is. And for these characters, that's perfect.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 21, 2015

What's great about "The Mend" is that it never goes exactly where you expect it to go.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 21, 2015

Directing his first feature after some shorts, John Magary digs into his characters with fresh eyes and a sly sense of adventure.

| Aug 20, 2015

A hugely promising introduction to a director who's just getting started.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 20, 2015

A terrific, quirky New York-set character piece.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2015

The film is defined by its staunch refusal to clarify its characters' emotional issues, marooning them instead in the messes those emotions have wrought.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 19, 2015

It's a tough film to shake, a slice-of-life that slices, knifelike.

| Aug 18, 2015

A convincing and refreshingly indirect examination of handed-down emotional flaws.

| Aug 17, 2015

The lack of consequences for Mat's deviance snowballs into a frustrating mess made more excruciating by a pulsing string quartet score and the trite cocktail party observations of the supporting cast.

| Aug 17, 2015