Bad Education(La mala educación)

The New Yorker by David Denby

Complex and devious beyond easy recounting, Bad Education is about the fallout from the ending of a "pure" love between boys, consecrated in an Almodóvaran temple--a movie theatre.

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

Spain's most important living filmmaker isn't at his very best in this complicated tale, but it raises still-timely questions well worth pondering.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

Ultimately, Bad Education must be considered to be a minor effort from a major director.

Variety by Jonathan Holland

Superbly orchestrated, visually impressive.

New York Magazine (Vulture) by Ken Tucker

May be at once too gimmicky and too sincere. But it still exerts an uncanny power: Like the best of Almodóvar’s work, it throws you a first-love sucker punch that will stagger your heart, mind, and soul.

Village Voice by Michael Atkinson

There's something dull and evasive at the film's center--for one thing, contrary to its festival buzz, Bad Education tiptoes around the issue of priesthood pedophilia; lovelorn gazes are as desperate as it gets.

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

It's a film noir that grows more potent as its secrets are revealed.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

A rapturous masterwork.

Film Threat by Phil Hall

Such garbage that taking a shower at the Bates Motel is a more appealing alternative.

The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias

In accounting for Almodóvar's identity as an artist and a man, Bad Education comes together like a bold and far-reaching summation of his career to date.