Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)

59% of critics liked it
(46 reviews)
44% of users liked it
(2,611 ratings)

American independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg's 2007 feature Hannah Takes the Stairs concerns Hannah (Greta Gerwig), a recent college graduate who spends one long, unsatisfying summer in the Windy City attempting to achieve romantic fulfillment in a seemingly endless series of relationships. Drifting… More American independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg's 2007 feature Hannah Takes the Stairs concerns Hannah (Greta Gerwig), a recent college graduate who spends one long, unsatisfying summer in the Windy City attempting to achieve romantic fulfillment in a seemingly endless series of relationships. Drifting in and out of infatuation, but never quite reaching satisfaction, Hannah begins to pose an emotional threat to herself and those around her. The picture co-stars filmmakers Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha) and Todd Rohal (The Guatemalan Handshake) as well as screenwriter Kent Osborne (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie). Gerwig co-authored the script with Osborne and Swanberg. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 23 min.
Directed By: Joe Swanberg
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 22, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Apr 22, 2008
Studio: IFC First Take

Critic Reviews

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Joe Swanberg's film wears out its welcome about halfway through its 83 minutes.
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
[Director] Swanberg nails the inane fun of youth.
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
Chop off a star if you're not up for highly experimental cinema.
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
Perfectly encapsulates the slow-motion, frustrated feeling of early adulthood, when longing and inchoate desire easily outnumber actual transformative events and achievements.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Gerwig proves herself to be a charming screen presence who manages to make her character somehow appealing despite her utter self-involvement.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Hannah is charmingly self-absorbed without the extenuating circumstance of self-knowledge. Above all, she's young. The movie forgives her for that and, with occasional misgivings, so do we.
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
Smart and engaging, but too many meandering breeze-shooting sequences.
David Jenkins, Time Out
It's never enough to establish any sensitivity or social pertinence beyond the trifling tiffs which are playing out on screen.
Jamie Russell, Film4
Less dazed and confused than mumbling and mundane, this drama focuses on social awkwardness and twentysomething blues. Skipping aimlessly from scene to scene it offers little observations and rewards low expectations.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
There's only so much twentysomething navel-gazing one can listen to before wanting to slap some sense - and some fully formed sentences - into them all.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
There is something teeth-grindingly cutesy about the whole thing, reaching epic levels of dippiness in the, ahem, nude trumpet-playing scenes. That makes it sound interesting, come to think of it, and perhaps it is.
Tim Evans, Sky Movies
For every revelatory moment of sharp perception there's an eternity of goofy smiles, stuttered dialogue and embarrassed glances.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
Hannah Takes the Stairs, the latest comedy of mannerisms in the "mumblecore" style, is maddening for 60 of its 83 minutes.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
The film meanders along in conversational style, encouraging improvisational realism but also the thought that maybe these middle-class characters, not quite slackers, are less interesting than they, or the director, think they are.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Watchable independent drama from the mumblecore crowd, though it's not quite sharp enough, funny enough or insightful enough to really get off the ground and the characters are occasionally irritating.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Goes full blast on geek chatter.
Bill Gibron, DVD Verdict
Adlibbing should be left to Catskills comics, TV talk show hosts, and members of Second City, and that's about it. Nowhere in this numbing 80 minutes of moroseness does anyone say anything remotely reasonable or realistic.
Marrit Ingman, Austin Chronicle
Swanberg can be playful behind the camera -- he has a taste for Godardian jump cuts -- and his sense of color is crisp. Gerwig, his millennial Jean Seberg, is no pixie; her captivating ordinariness helps hold the movie together.
Matt Pais, Metromix.com
No one involved seems to have any thoughts about why people are selfish and cruel to each other, but they're more than willing to complain about it.