60
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanShows more hopelessness than optimism but is never less than honest.
- 75Chicago TribuneMark CaroChicago TribuneMark CaroThis clear-eyed, low-budget drama is populated by troubled teens whose stories aren’t packaged in neat little bows. Their histories are sad, their feelings raw, their futures uncertain.
- 70Village VoiceLaura SinagraVillage VoiceLaura SinagraOften the script (co-written by Michael Bacall, who plays sardonic bipolar rich kid Chad) rings clear with mouths-of-babes declamations that all pained kids spew before downing adulthood's suck-it-up Kool-Aid.
- 67Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerThe texture of Manic feels honest and the chemistry of the kids is well observed, but even the modest breakthroughs are dramatic conventions that favor the symbolic over the genuine.
- 63New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickExcellent performances redeem Jordan Melamed's gritty teenage version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
- 60Dallas ObserverJean OppenheimerDallas ObserverJean OppenheimerDon Cheadle is wonderful, as always, as the former drug-addict-turned-psychiatrist who worries it's all hopeless but refuses to stop trying. Sounds clichéd, perhaps, but for the most part it works, thanks to piercingly authentic performances.
- 50New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardSearching for a documentary feel, the camera here is so shaky that you cling to the arms of your chair lest you pitch into the next row.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleBuoyed by some sensitive performances and nearly tanked by insensitive filming.
- 40L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyMelamed's debut film, Manic, set in a juvenile mental institution, has all the uncertainties of a first run-through.