Choose Connor (2007)

Critic Reviews

• John Anderson, Washington Post

  It's a film that works through guilelessness and cynicism.

• Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

  Luke Eberl's Choose Connor is a real stunner, an unusual coming-of-age story that packs a wallop in unexpected ways.

• Ronnie Scheib, Variety

  Whether or not one buys into pic's vision of government as irreversibly corrupt, the leap from the general to the specific registers as unconvincing at best.

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  Overlong, obvious and indifferently acted.

• Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

  Choose Connor, a jaundiced look at political power and moral turpitude, draws you in by creeping you out.

• Kristi Mitsuda, Village Voice

  Like this election cycle, the movie leaves you cynical and weary. We've seen it all before.

• Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News

  Stranger things, no doubt, do happen. But ambitious, intelligent Eberl needed more mature storytelling skills to make Choose Connor seem plausible.

• Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

  An upstart thriller about a young man's initiation into politics and life, Choose Connor is not coincidentally getting a theatrical release during an election that will likely mark an old man's exit from both politics and life.

• John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine

  At numerous points, you suspect the low-budget project has been conceived and executed by middle-schoolers.

• Anna King, Time Out New York

  For reasons that are unclear, Choose Connor seems to both court relevance and avoid it, lapsing into allegory at inopportune moments.

• Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze

  Touches on challenging topics like political expediency versus integrity. But with an abrupt detour into tabloid scandal, how can the movie demand integrity of politicians, when it similarly ends up lacking the courage of its own convictions.

• Luke Y. Thompson, OC Weekly

  The ending is also note-perfect. However...it could have used perhaps a bit more restraint in some areas.

• Don R. Lewis, Film Threat

  I wouldn't say there's any big life lessons being told here, but the story of Owen Norris coming of age in the harsh light of reality is intriguing stuff.

• Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

  Has flashes of incredible maturity and complexity [but the filmmaker] still has some things to learn about the basic tenets of storytelling before he can become a quality filmmaker.

Read all 14 critic reviews