Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
The performances in Girl, Interrupted resonate, but the movie does not.
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United States, Germany · 1999
Rated R · 2h 7m
Director James Mangold
Starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Brittany Murphy, Clea DuVall
Genre Drama
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Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
The performances in Girl, Interrupted resonate, but the movie does not.
A solid central performance by Winona Ryder and a captivating wild turn by Angelina Jolie in the yarn's flashiest role.
Ends up suffering from the classic diseases of book-to-film adaptation: triteness, overreliance of narration, and a general "need" to impose classic dramatic structure on what is not a particularly dramatic narrative.
There's too much control in it and not enough danger.
Dallas Observer by Jean Oppenheimer
Doesn't come close to matching the emotional depth and power of Frank Perry's 1962 "David and Lisa," the most involving and affecting film I've ever seen about teenagers and mental illness.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Top performances keep true-life mental ward tale Girl, Interrupted soaring, despite a script that frequently drifts into genre clichés.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
There's very little plot, and director Mangold's attempts to make a connection between the social confusion of the '60s and Susanna's inner turmoil don't really work.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Shrewd, tough, and lively -- a junior-league "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Stack
A sappy, muddled production that misses the jarring tone of the autobiographical book by Susanna Kaysen on which it is based.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The story, having failed to provide itself with character conflicts that can be resolved with drama, turns to melodrama instead.
This is not a love story – it's a story about love.