54
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerBee Season, at its core, is about something powerful: The ways in which family members wreak destruction on each other with the best of intentions.
- 70Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderThe directors exercise their stylistic flourishes mainly in the imaginative sequences depicting the young daughter's trancelike state while she conjures up the correct orthography in the spelling bees her father's determined she must win, and while the film observes the same heartbreaking obsessiveness as the popular "Spellbound," it has none of that documentary's cuteness.
- 70L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorMcGehee and Siegel's ornate structure and editing stay just this side of tricky, as does their borderline-goofy use of special effects to make us see the world (and the words) through Eliza's anxious eyes.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisA serious film filled with both great and awkward ideas and made as much from the heart as the head.
- 67Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumBee Season answers the question no Talmudic student or fan of "Unfaithful" has thought to ask: What would Richard Gere look like as a learned Jewish scholar and teacher?
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttUltimately, its success may depend on how emotionally satisfying audiences find this flirtation with Jewish mysticism.
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyThe film is ice cold, never finding a way to invite the viewer into the story, and Richard Gere doesn't convince as a Jewish biblical scholar.
- 50Village VoiceJessica WinterVillage VoiceJessica WinterThe mysticism only mystifies; its hieroglyphics are vividly rendered, but Bee Season never manages to spell them out.
- 40The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayEveryone in Bee Season is chasing spiritual peace and falling behind, and McGehee and Siegel catch them at their most worn-out and static.
- 38Chicago TribuneAllison BenediktChicago TribuneAllison BenediktGere and Binoche are both terribly miscast--one far too charismatic, the other far too dowdy, which is something for Juliette Binoche. And the spelling bees? Dull. Dreary.