70
The power of the film — and of Palmer’s phenomenal performance — is watching Alice grow into her voice.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
65
Palmer's performance, disjointed though it may be because of the script, is solid in each individual time period, and though the movie speeds too quickly across the finish line after taking way too long to get revved up, its metaphors and parallels to the struggles of today are effectively drawn.
80
Ver Linden never goes the commercial route here with her high-concept idea. Like Palmer, she stays true to her goal but does give the audience several satisfying moments that call for applause.
50
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
The queasy mix of realism and wish-fulfillment will set many viewers’ heads spinning, or at least shaking with disappointment, in this well-intentioned but unpromising debut.
58
Ver Linden’s film may play out mostly in a straight-forward chronology, but that choice doesn’t do “Alice” (or Alice) any favors, expecting major revelations and revolutions to happen in the exact minimum of time.
12
Slant Magazine by Keith Watson
Alice plays as an inadvertent parody of contemporary liberalism’s fascination with and fetishization of ‘70s black radicalism.
40
Palmer is fantastic in a film that needed more depth and time for Alice to acclimate to her surroundings. Without that, it leaves Alice’s realism and emotional core lacking as it veers wildly into one-note chaos.
80
We Got This Covered by Martin Carr
In many ways, Alice feels like a film looking to inform as well as entertain, by exploring the evolution of Black identity with unflinching honesty.
80
Like her Lewis Carroll namesake, the protagonist of writer/director Krystin Ver Linden’s bold and enlightening feature debut hurtles down a rabbit hole — but the alternative reality in which she finds herself is certainly no fairy tale.
50
The Playlist by Robert Daniels
Linden offers a fascinating premise, but her visual language doesn’t catch the eye, and the potential excitement to be mined from translating Blaxploitation motifs for modern-day audiences is missing. “Alice” could’ve been so much more, but instead, it comes off like a lost opportunity.