Critic Reviews

• Tom Long, Detroit News

  You have your basic family psychodrama, except there's no real heat either downstairs or up.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  Standout Olivia Harris and Parker are heart-wrenching as the vitriolic mother and neglected teen daughter.

• Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News

  Modest in scale, it's the kind of American independent film that brings some honor to that shopworn descriptor.

• Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times

  The film uses the upper-middle-class setting effectively, even as it resorts to heavy-handed symbolism and melodrama in its dour, mostly unforgiving portrait of parental dysfunction.

• Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

  A detailed, and depressing portrait of grim, forced independence. Lightened only by the sense that if these kids are learning anything, it is how to survive.

• Kyle Smith, New York Post

  This imitation "Ice Storm" is as refreshing as a step into a puddle of slush.

• John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

  Molly Parker is Oscar-worthy in the juicy role of John Hawkes' alcoholic, stylish, sexy/pathetic wife.

• Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press

  The stuff with the adults is drab and stale, but the kids' scenes are excellent.

• Annlee Ellingson, Paste Magazine

  In the tradition of The Ice Storm, The Playroom revisits 1970s suburbia, when the chilly civility between husband and Stepford wife bumps up against the sexual revolution.

• Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

  It's a misfire from screenwriter Gretchen Dyer and director Julia Dyer, who can't connect the puzzle pieces, resulting in a movie of attentive performances working through ill-defined storytelling.

• Brent Simon, Shockya.com

  If The Ice Storm was a band, think of this as the minor-chord, label-unsigned, opening act for its opening act. Lovingly captured but dramatically inert.

• Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue.com

  A reliance on melodrama prevents a deeper and more insightful glimpse into the characters and subject matter.

• S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media

  Parents seek joy, ignore kids in difficult, powerful drama.

• Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

  A chamber piece cousin to The Ice Storm, The Playroom hones in on the mentality of so many irresponsible '70s era parents whose children grew up to be much better people than their parents.

• Noel Murray, AV Club

  What little story there is has no sense of real life, no matter much the film pretends to be about children learning hard truths.

• Tomas Hachard, Slant Magazine

  Lacking much in the way of character depth, the film attempts to fill the gap with melodrama.

Read all 16 critic reviews