56
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisStrongly acted and beautifully photographed (by Virgil Mirano), Spoken Word is a quietly resonant family drama about the tug of old habits and the difficulties of escaping the past.
- 80VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibSpoken Word benefits from an improbably perfect storm of production circumstances: The muscular, balanced script, the brainchild of an unusual alliance between professional poet Joe Ray Sandoval and TV writer William T. Conway, consistently plays to Nunez's strengths.
- 80Time OutS. James SnyderTime OutS. James SnyderFilmmaker Victor Nunez pairs evocative locales--beatnik Bay Area, bucolic rural New Mexico--with fleeting asides of poetry (penned by the Santa Fe–based writer Joe Ray Sandoval); these meditative detours both elevate a routine story arc and tap into tangled, twisted familial roots.
- 65MovielineMichelle OrangeMovielineMichelle OrangeHas just enough genuine warmth to compensate for the coolness you might feel toward its generic trappings.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceThough crudely constructed (the lighting and framing are strictly soap opera), unevenly acted (Becker is a bundle of distracting tics), and bluntly scripted, the film does have an honest integrity--at least whenever Blades is onscreen.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSpoken Word, which centers on the tense reunion between a recovering addict poet and his dying father, features more cliches than it can comfortably handle and is not helped by its grindingly slow pacing.
- Apart from its title, there's very little poetic about Spoken Word.
- 40Boxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyBoxoffice MagazineJohn P. McCarthyWhile in many respects Spoken Word is adequately specific, it's still not very deep.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThe self-conscious poetry and Cruz's diagnosis of bipolar disorder threaten to add too many notes to this quiet drama.