Secretary (2002) Critic Reviews

There's a word for an actress who can go from nervous to winsome to raunchy to romantic in a heartbeat and get you to adore her the whole time. The word is star.Read the full review

Most love stories are bland and generalized. This one takes you deep inside the dance.Read the full review

Has enough genuine laughs to eliminate the potential twitters and snickers, and it treats Edward and Lee as people. We end up caring about what happens to these two individuals, even as we smile and laugh at their antics.Read the full review

A film of startling humor and feeling. For that, director Steven Shainberg, who co-wrote the script with Erin Cressida Wilson, owes much to two remarkable performances.Read the full review

Initially cold and perverse to its core, the film transmutes into something warm and uplifting. Normal, even.Read the full review

In a very demanding role demanding a vast emotional range from clueless innocent to confident role player and emotional adventurer, Gyllenhaal is outstanding.Read the full review

For all the dolorous trim, Secretary is a genial romance that maintains a surprisingly buoyant tone throughout, notwithstanding some of the writers' sporadic dips into pop Freudianism.Read the full review

A wholesome self-help fable about the unlocking of shame and its magical transformation into pleasure and personal liberation.Read the full review

Lee's journey of the body and soul is something else. Maggie Gyllenhaal makes it strangely touching, a revelation.Read the full review