69
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The PlaylistRodrigo PerezThe PlaylistRodrigo PerezTipping’s bold and meditative drama with its reflective moods and streetwise grime has delivered one of the best feature-length debuts of 2016 and one of the best films of the year, period.
- 88RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyKicks is knowing and innocent, profound and goofy.
- 80The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe characters have enough dimension to avoid appearing to be symbols of a social tragedy, and the movie’s relative gentleness makes the harsher realities of Brandon’s world all the more distressing.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFirst-time director Justin Tipping's finesse with dialogue and story is less developed than his visual sense. But if the movie is over-reliant on slo-mo, voiceover and almost wall-to-wall music to drive scenes, its silky blend of lyricism with urban grit marks it as a promising debu
- 70VarietyAndrew BarkerVarietyAndrew BarkerAn arresting visual experience, Kicks has style to spare, and in fact it probably should have spared a little, as this first-time director sometimes crowds his film with more auteurial flourishes than his rather simple story can support. Nonetheless, this is a debut of undeniable promise, both for its director and its largely unknown cast.
- 60Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbelePerhaps the best thing you can say about Kicks is that its strengths and weaknesses make for intriguing bedfellows, like a cautionary fable that’s as much about the hazards of forging an artistic authenticity as it is the pitfalls of a corrosive approach to manhood.
- 58The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerThe A.V. ClubJesse HassengerHere is a film that manages to be observant without being especially insightful—without deepening thematically beyond the observation that inner city life can still be really, really lousy for everyone involved.
- 50Slant MagazineChristopher GraySlant MagazineChristopher GrayIt's less notable for its originality than for how dynamically it blends a few styles that ultimately prove incompatible.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSan Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoIt doesn’t really add up, either as a psychological portrait or moral commentary.