Critic Reviews

• Neil Genzlinger, New York Times

  The director, Harold Guskin, and writer, Sandra Jennings, show admirable patience in letting the story unspool, and the actors reward them.

• Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

  None of it hangs together - particularly as the film heads into his final third, and you realize director Harold Guskin and screenwriter Sandra Jennings don't have a clue as to how to wrap things up.

• Ella Taylor, NPR

  Gandolfini and Janssen dance a delicate minuet around one another, pacing out a slow, quiet revelation of the shared past that has paralyzed their wills to happiness and change.

• Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

  Costa brings a nice, lived-in sexiness to the evocatively shot setting, and Gandolfini settles into his character with extraordinary skill and sensitivity.

• Eric Hynes, Time Out New York

  Brando-wheezing Gandolfini never slums it, but there's still no shaking the sense that a pro has shown up for amateur hour.

• Stephanie Carrie, Village Voice

  Any moments of honesty are immediately drowned out by a blast of heartfelt tunes that assure you the scene you've been watching was significant.

• Simon Brookfield, We Got This Covered

  In terms of pace, Down the Shore walks a very narrow line between deliberate and utterly languid, but there are just enough strong performances and intriguing (if messy) dynamics to make it work.

• Ethan Alter, Television Without Pity

  A small-scale, working-class character study that's never quite as nuanced and dramatic as it aspires to be.

• Gabe Toro, The Playlist

  An actors' showcase melodrama that captures [small town New Jersey] as a prison where characters are doomed to serve penance for sins of the past.

• Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine

  Down the Shore suggests what might happen if TBS and Bruce Springsteen were to collaborate on a sitcom set in hell.

Read all 10 critic reviews