Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Desiree Akhavan
Cast
Desiree Akhavan,
Rebecca Henderson,
Halley Feiffer,
Scott Adsit,
Anh Duong,
Hooman Majd
Genre
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance
For Shirin, being part of a perfect Persian family isn't easy. Acceptance eludes her from all sides: her family doesn't know she's bisexual, and her ex-girlfriend, Maxine, can't understand why she doesn't tell them. Even the six-year-old boys in her moviemaking class are too ADD to focus on her for more than a second. Following a family announcement of her brother's betrothal to a parentally approved Iranian prize catch, Shirin embarks on a private rebellion involving a series of bisexual escapades, while trying to decipher what went wrong with Maxine.
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
Forget its generic title, its breakup setup, and its indie-standard Brooklyn walk-and-talks: Writer/director Desiree Akhavan's Appropriate Behavior is the freshest comedy of life and love in the city since Obvious Child.
TheWrap by Inkoo Kang
Unabashedly truthful and restlessly intelligent, Akhavan’s remarkable, near-perfect debut has wit and charisma to spare. Miss it at your own risk.
IndieWire by Eric Kohn
Appropriate Behavior isn’t a narrative about ethnicity or even LGBT struggles in the traditional sense, but rather a means of exploring the problems that result from reinforcing those very barriers. In the process, it introduces a thoroughly modern voice.
The Playlist by Katie Walsh
Funny, unique, and entirely inappropriate, Appropriate Behavior is a supremely satisfying and irreverent take on the New York rom-com.
Salon by Andrew O'Hehir
Akhavan turns out to be a distinctive and oddly charismatic performer with exquisite comic timing.
Time Out
For all the brazen charms of this warm, funny debut, though, its quieter moments signal a profundity that’s really worth getting excited about.
The Dissolve by Kate Erbland
Appropriate Behavior is very funny, even while it’s also being real and heartfelt. It’s a raw story with refined production values, and Akhavan is so open and true in the lead role that what could be an overly insular story instead feels relatable and amusing.
CineVue by Patrick Gamble
Most importantly, Appropriate Behaviour is funny, and not just sporadically entertaining, the film is a riotous series of mishaps from start to finish.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
For all its disorganization and lack of an ending or even a sense of direction, Appropriate Behavior is alive. The screenplay is packed with smart remarks, clever and unpredictable turns of phrase that knock you off balance.
Time Out by Sophie Harris
For all the brazen charms of this warm, funny debut, though, its quieter moments signal a profundity that’s really worth getting excited about.
Slant Magazine by Diego Semerene
Desiree Akhavan's tale of queer post-breakup funk shows more nuance, and racial dimension, than its cinematic cousins.
The A.V. Club by Jesse Hassenger
Ultimately, Appropriate Behavior works almost in spite of itself; so efficiently does the film explain why Shirin and Maxine split up that eventually it lags behind its own premise.
Variety by Andrew Barker
This tart, sexually frank portrait of a disintegrating relationship — and its long, bitter aftermath — packs plenty of punch in its best scenes, but it also frequently tests audience patience with its relentless deadpan affectlessness and insistence on leaving no Brooklyn cliche unmined.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
Sifting the pieces of a broken lesbian relationship, the slender, seemingly autobiographical film has its share of neurotic charms and funny one-liners, but it’s too tentative about digging into its identity conflicts -- sexual or cultural.
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