Critic Reviews

• Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

  Writer-director Salvatore Stabile keeps his affecting story hurtling forward with such grit and integrity it's easy to forgive its loaded setup and occasional lapses in detail and logic.

• David Edelstein, New York Magazine

  The acting, the on-the-fly atmosphere (the film was shot quickly), and Leguizamo's increasingly urgent hustle are deeply evocative, but parts of the movie are almost too painful to endure.

• Drew Toal, Time Out New York

  This film needs more than God's Nikes to resonate with an already economically downtrodden filmgoing populace.

• Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice

  Stabile, a Brooklyn native with a resume in TV production, knows how to line up a permit and scout out perfect South Brooklyn Italian manors and melancholic intersections. He gets interesting scenes, too.

• Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

  Writer-director Salvatore Stabile has a good eye for the details of hard-luck ordinariness, and he sketches believable family bonds with a minimum of flourish.

• Sarah Sluis, Film Journal International

  A neorealist glimpse of a father trying to find a job on Christmas Eve, with a magnetic performance by David Castro in the role of his son.

• Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

  you won't get much out of Where God Left His Shoes other than an appreciation of the fact that you have a home for the holidays.

• Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film

  Although the situation feels slightly contrived... the script is bang on.

• Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru

  With a more organic and imaginative screenplay, Where God Left His Shoes could have been much more emotionally resonating and powerful.

• Christian Toto, PajamasMedia

  Where God Left His Shoes is a holiday miracle - a gritty tale about homelessness that's neither sappy nor sentimental

• Matt Noller, Slant Magazine

  If you could cut all the music from Where God Left His Shoes, you might actually have a solid family drama.

Read all 11 critic reviews