Critic Reviews

• Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

  Ms. Wright and all her acting colleagues provide very persuasive performances amid the shifting perspectives of Mr. Ruscio's convoluted storytelling.

• Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

  Ruscio would rather add forced narrative complications than get to the actual core of what he's tossing out there, the sacrifices made in the name of relationships, dreams dashed or discarded.

• Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

  The movie Little Children wanted to be.

• Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

  Could have used much more of the sly and subtle humor that only occasionally pops up.

• Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times

  Part domestic drama, part thriller, Laura Smiles is so ambitious that its ultimate failure is more depressing than anything in its dark script.

• V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  Ruscio's script is grim and darkly funny, but the big attraction is Wright's right-on performance. She's an actress waiting to be discovered.

• Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly

  It casts an increasingly hypnotic spell, thanks in no small measure to Wright - a fearless actress (and the real-life wife of writer-director Ruscio) who brings this sometimes despicable, often heartbreaking character to life with every atom of her being.

• Brian Orndorf, eFilmCritic.com

  The film hardly registers as an open-wound document of a spirit more lost than she cares to confront. Instead, Laura Smiles exists somewhere in the middle, frozen by its pretension and incapacity to engage.

• David Noh, Film Journal International

  The film unfortunately ends as just another misguided indie, artily straining for substance.

• Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  Unlike many filmmakers who try to stake out the gray area between mundane reality and sleazy surreality, Ruscio maintains a successful balance throughout and gracefully brings the two together in a delicately ambiguous final scene.

• Paul Schrodt, Slant Magazine

  Laura Smiles teaches us that you can't escape misery, least of all in Jersey.

Read all 11 critic reviews