Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
A human-scale comedy that reaches across generations to tickle, connect and embrace.
Germany, United States · 2001
Rated R · 1h 49m
Director Christine Lahti
Starring Albert Brooks, Leelee Sobieski, John Goodman, Carol Kane
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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Leelee Sobieski is brash, abrasive and vulnerable as a teenage child of divorce who hides her pain behind a mask of hard-edged gothic rebellion. Albert Brooks plays a man who is her total opposite, a precise and well-ordered menswear store owner of forty-nine who manages limited expectations and protects lonely secrets with pleasant ritual and quiet, ironic reserve. These two total opposites collide in conflict then come together in a surprising alliance, changing each other's lives forever.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
A human-scale comedy that reaches across generations to tickle, connect and embrace.
It's a measure of Brooks' stature that he survives the self-sabotage and comes through with his most engaging performance in years.
Christine Lahti, making her directorial debut, wrings good laughs and strong emotion throughout, largely through the performances.
New Times (L.A.) by Gregory Weinkauf
As it stands, it's cute, occasionally poignant and outrageously implausible.
Village Voice by Jessica Winter
The best that can be said about director Christine Lahti's feature debut is that it doesn't fall into any ready category.
One hundred and nine minutes of drama and not a single moment rings true.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
In its first two-thirds, My First Mister, which marks Christine Lahti's feature directorial debut, looks to be a winner. But it takes a disastrously wrong turn toward the end that all but destroys the good work that's come before.
While My First Mister has considerable charm, it suffers somewhat from comparison with "Ghost World."
Chicago Reader by Ronnie Scheib
A bathetic TV-movie-type "learning experience" that provides about as much insight into teenagers as 40s westerns did into Indians--it's all in the costumes and customs.
Austin Chronicle by Russell Smith
The splendid performance by Sobieski, who ends her long run as industry-mag buzz princess and arrives as a full-fledged star.
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