50
That the film is semi- autobiographical for caustic actor-turned-writer-director Richard E. Grant helps explain its severely, sometimes laughably bitter tone.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
Flavorsome performances by a seasoned cast, held in check by Grant's traditional but well-crafted, always cinematic direction.
70
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
Grant's unblinking but sympathetic depiction of this emotionally unhinged world makes the viewer feel like an illicit, enlightened gawker, and it has the enormous fringe benefit of fine performers, including Richardson, who puts endearing vigor into the adulterous Lauren, and Julie Walters, Ralph's aunt, who tells the boy her frequent tipsiness is a recurring case of "sunstroke."
60
Though far from expert filmmaking - visual clichés fly thick and fast - the movie has a swooning feel for the stark beauty of the African kingdom in which it was shot.
50
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
As coming of age stories go, Wah-Wah does little to distinguish itself.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Crust
Both acidly funny and very moving.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
Veteran actor Richard E. Grant makes his writing and directing debut with Wah-Wah, a startling portrait of his own startling and unusual childhood, growing up in Swaziland in the waning days of the British Empire in Africa.
58
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
An overdeveloped coming-of-age potboiler.
75
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
Grant is a fine actor ("Withnail and I," "Gosford Park") and, although he doesn't appear in Wah-Wah, his spiritedness as a performer carries through to some of the others in his cast.