Natural Selection (2012)

Critic Reviews

• Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

  In Harris' hands, Linda is guileless but believable, her smile so worn and wary that it almost hurts to see it.

• Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle

  A coming-of-age portrait of a sweet, innocent, middle-aged Christian woman who bursts through the confines of a sexless marriage.

• Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

  The loser junkie and the chaste Christian lady make an odd couple, in an odd film, but the oddity gives way to an effortless, persuasive charm. They give us something to believe in.

• Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

  Credit Pickering's deft script for avoiding the usual clichéd speed bumps, though sex and lies are on the menu.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Its creator clearly has talent. He simply lacked the resources to make the movie he envisioned.

• Joe Leydon, Variety

  An engagingly offbeat comedy that respects its characters too much to push too hard for easy laughs, even when those characters risk making complete fools of themselves.

• Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

  This movie demonstrates that it's a pretty rough place out there in Flyover Land. Harris and O'Leary are up to the challenge, and Natural Selection is a pleasant surprise.

• Dan Lybarger, MovieMaker Magazine

  Pickering has made a movie that mercilessly pokes fun at religious pretensions but still looks on his characters with warmth.

• Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics

  A commendable ultra-low budget indie road trip flick, "Natural Selection" fails to fire on all cylinders.

• Catherine Shoard, Guardian [UK]

  Natural Selection ticks all the boxes with a firm grip. Its opening alone is a lovely cinematic coup.

• Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

  A mostly contrived comedy whose only real reason for existence is to provide a platform for Rachael Harris to give a true and lovely performance as a middle-age frump who blossoms among the truck stops and the Motel 6es.

• Chris French, Paste Magazine

  A violent, witty, heart-wrenching and, most of all, awkward tale of one woman's travels to places beyond her own -- places that are painful and depressed, yet intoxicating with excitement.

• Alison Willmore, AV Club

  It'd be easy to thread this story through with condescension, but instead, it's modest and compassionate, a midlife awakening for a woman long out of touch with her own needs.

• Logan Hill, Vulture

  I'm still reeling at how high a level of difficulty this film worked at, with its bold tonal shifts, meshing of truly dark material and spastic physical comedy.

• Eric Kohn, indieWIRE

  Stay tuned, however, for more from up-and-comer Pickering. The movie firmly puts him on the map.

• David Fear, Time Out New York

  Couldn't be more clumsily obvious in its narrative setup or more flavorless in its lo-fi Americana tone.

Read all 16 critic reviews