What Is It? (2005)

56% of critics liked it
(9 reviews)
59% of users liked it
(887 ratings)

Eccentric actor Crispin Glover makes his feature directorial debut with this Dadaist film experiment about a snail-obsessed boy searching for a way home while struggling with his racist inner psyche. Featuring a cast comprised almost entirely of Down Syndrome-affected actors, What Is It? is the… More Eccentric actor Crispin Glover makes his feature directorial debut with this Dadaist film experiment about a snail-obsessed boy searching for a way home while struggling with his racist inner psyche. Featuring a cast comprised almost entirely of Down Syndrome-affected actors, What Is It? is the first installment of the surreal "It" trilogy. The second installment, entitled It is Fine! Everything is Fine, followed in 2007. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 12 min.
Directed By: Crispin Glover
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jan 27, 2005 Wide

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Glover, who appears in the film as a kind of barbarian dictator-auteur, lacks both the self-imposed ideological innocence and the talent for composing sounds and images of David Lynch.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
A shocker, but not a world-class one.
Laura Kern, New York Times
His directorial debut, What Is It? -- which plays as part of a double bill with a live, enthusiastically performed slide show in which Mr. Glover displays pages from his recent series of books -- is just as unclassifiable as he is.
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
It isn't the blatant affronts - the aspects aimed to shock - that upset me, but the fact that the film lacks heart.
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
It's clear that [director] Glover is less interested in narrative than in rekindling a rich midnight-movie/avant-garde tradition that encompasses everything from Maya Deren and Jack Smith to Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
The film, for all of its very explicit connections to other works, is still a thing of unique madness.
Daniel Wible, Film Threat
If you're like me, i.e. an abnormally functioning film critic, you're likely to find it fascinating and utterly hilarious.
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
It's weirdness for weirdness' sake, and while I disagree fundamentally with a film that has no purpose other than to make you go 'huh ... that was odd,' I do concede that most of the weirdness in this case is at least interesting weirdness.

Read all 8 critic reviews

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Cast

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