74
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenBad Hair is an uncomfortably accurate depiction of a poignant mother-son power struggle in a fatherless family in which each knows how to get under the other’s skin.
- 80VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergWhile Rondon’s focus is the struggle of wills between a boy awakening to homosexual feelings and his embittered mother, the helmer invests their collision with a powerful specificity.
- 75Slant MagazineCarson LundSlant MagazineCarson LundThe narrative works through the many contradictions brewing inside its main character in the wake of his personal actualization without ever feeling like a dramatic checklist.
- 75RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyPopulated with totally naturalistic performances, and a stunningly observed relationship between mother and son (their scenes together are phenomenal), Bad Hair works by keeping its focus on the small details of everyday life and its rhythms.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyA spare neorealist drama that holds attention and emotional involvement with its deft balance of toughness and sensitivity.
- 70The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasRondón treats her characters with toughness and empathy, without devising easy outs or slipping into sentimentality.
- 70Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekVillage VoiceStephanie ZacharekThere’s plenty of prickly tenderness, for both mother and son, at the heart of Bad Hair. All children yearn for things beyond their reach, and if they’re honest about it, adults do too. It’s a feeling you never outgrow.
- 67The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloBad Hair can best be described as expertly depressing—a subcategory of art cinema that seems worth the punishment only when the gloom is counterbalanced by at least a few transcendent moments. No such moments ever surface here, however, apart from a brief fantasy during the closing credits.
- 63New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmePlayed with enormous charm by Samuel Lange Zambrano, Junior is a handsome kid.
- 42The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicWith her underdeveloped, dismissive, screenplay and myopic direction, Rondòn is as delicate with her theme as Michael Bay is with his American flag shots or Tim Burton with his kitschy quirkiness. That hers is a serious context makes it that much more disappointing.