The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

From its contrived structure to its forced speechifying, this story... never acquires the emotional potency or coherence its themes demand.

In any case, what remains of John F. Donovan is a barely coherent mess, and so eager for your approval that it's hard to feel anything but sorry for it.

A work of stunning technique eclipsed by its increasingly jaw-dropping solipsism...

Xavier Dolan's film is a mess, maybe even a hot one, and I can't say I had a bad time watching it-which is not the same thing as suggesting it works.

A spectacular mash of half-baked ideas... Well, that, and a movie that just got lost somewhere in the editing room.

[Dolan's] film falls victim to his worst tendencies.

Nothing but a prestige piece for a fictional character with inexplicable iconoclasm and half-baked coming-of-age schmaltz that tries really hard - and fails - to pluck at the heart strings. This is a fairly major misfire for Dolan.

Man this thing flounders. My only thought at its end was what, pray tell, was the point of all this?

These moments lead us to Dolan the pedant, whose explicit articulation of ideas obscures a career-long attention to character and form.

With just a little streamlining [the film] might have zipped by in a brisk, poignant hour and a half. At over two hours, it goes straight to the Dead Letter Department.