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How to Talk to Girls at Parties

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United Kingdom, United States · 2017
Rated R · 1h 43m
Director John Cameron Mitchell
Starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Nicole Kidman, Matt Lucas
Genre Comedy, Music, Romance, Science Fiction

In 1977 London, when three punk teenagers go to a party to meet girls, they run into alien teenage girls who are visiting Earth as a rite of passage. They befriend the aliens and teach them about Earth, London, and punk rock.

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What are critics saying?

50

The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney

Ultimately, this psychedelic culture-clash comedy-romance takes what was at heart a relatively simple story by Gaiman, which channeled bold sci-fi imagination into relatable adolescent experience, and overcomplicates it beyond repair.

67

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

Mitchell transforms Neil Gaiman’s sci-fi short story into a vibrant, edgy and at times outright goofy statement on tough antiestablishment rebels and freewheeling hippy vibes, suggesting that they’re not really all that that different.

40

CineVue by John Bleasdale

Mitchell's understanding of punk seems to be the brandishing of two or three cliches, shouting a lot and name-checking bands.

42

The Film Stage by Jordan Ruimy

The lack of narrative propulsion or powerful subtext of any kind results in little dramatic substance beyond its cult-like ambitions.

70

Screen International by Lee Marshall

How To Talk To Girls at Parties shouldn’t work, as it feels at times like a film made by a talented student collective who overheard a ‘punk vs aliens’ elevator pitch. But work it does: it’s all a bit mad, but ultimately rather moving.

30

Variety by Owen Gleiberman

The film enunciates its raw themes — punk means individuality! the aliens are all about conformity! — but never begins to figure out how to embody those themes in a narrative that could lure in the audience.

40

The Telegraph by Tim Robey

It tends to be flat, misjudged, and a bit of a nightmare, but it’s too frivolously knocked-off to give lasting annoyance.

40

The Guardian by Xan Brooks

What an extravagantly muddled, borderline incontinent film this is. You might call it genre-hopping, except that this would imply some degree of intent and control.

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