Secretary (2002) Critic Reviews

Love hurts in Secretary -- but not too much. It's not impossible to imagine adventurous young couples seeing this movie and rushing home to try out the handcuffs and paddles.Read the full review

Approaches the tricky subject of sadomasochism with a stealthy tread, avoiding the dangers of making it either too offensive, or too funny.Read the full review

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

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

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

It provokes nothing but yawns, and the sex it explores is stuff everybody knows about and says, "So what?"Read the full review

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