Winter Passing Critic Reviews

This is the kind of movie routinely dismissed as too slow and quiet by those who don't know it is more exciting to listen than to hear.Read the full review

This flawed drama about a self-destructive young actress and her reclusive novelist father has its rewards, mainly in some good performances.Read the full review

A classic example of a pedestrian motion picture being lifted out of mediocrity by an arresting lead performance. Zooey Deschanel doesn't just elevate Winter Passing; she carries it.Read the full review

Harris, of course, is in a different league from the rest, and his depiction of the tortured writer is remarkably well-realized, considering the nonspecific yet somehow overly familiar inscrutability of the character. Despite its limitations, there's something appealing about the world Rapp has created.Read the full review

I found the film borderline bleak, and borderline predictable, at least in its resolution, yet admirable as well. Winter Passing almost always operates on the right side of the border, the full-of-life side where compelling characters live with urgency and intensity.Read the full review

Winter Passing plays like two indie movies trapped in one film, and Zooey Deschanel is in the better of them. Will Ferrell is in the other one.Read the full review

Winter Passing is also being called ''the serious Will Ferrell movie,'' but he's not especially serious in it. Put it this way: His character Corbit is one of those movie types who's into ''kar-a-tay,'' which is a joke that must officially die.Read the full review

With the exception of a few unpredictable moments from Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell, Winter Passing finds only cliche as it reaches for profundity.Read the full review

Its familiar story of an embittered child's homecoming and confrontation with a parent throws off dramatic sparks, but they never flare into a blaze.Read the full review