65
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniPhiladelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniThe Confirmation is a powerful directorial debut from 59-year-old writer Bob Nelson, who received an Oscar nomination for his first screenplay, Nebraska.
- 80The New York TimesAndy WebsterThe New York TimesAndy WebsterThe pleasures are modest but rewarding in Bob Nelson’s character study The Confirmation.
- 75The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenThe Seattle TimesSoren AndersenA surprisingly sweet-spirited picture about a man’s redemption and a boy’s initiation into the ways of the world.
- 75The A.V. ClubAdam NaymanThe A.V. ClubAdam NaymanThe Confirmation isn’t much to look at, and its rhythms are wobbly (the quest narrative starts to feel strained early on), but Nelson is a dogged enough dramatist that even the story’s resolutions—even the really pat and obvious ones—are satisfyingly earned.
- 70Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlThe movie's not just good but moving, funny and true to the way people actually live in hard-times America.
- 70Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinFeature films these days rarely come as gentle and equitable as The Confirmation. It's a sweet, decidedly low-key little picture starring a deftly understated Clive Owen.
- 67The Film StageTony HindsThe Film StageTony HindsNelson’s screenwriting voice is unpretentious, approaching earnestly grounded characters with a deliberate lack of sentimentality.
- 63Washington PostStephanie MerryWashington PostStephanie MerryOne of the selling points of The Confirmation is how it steers clear of melodrama or tidy perfection in favor of a taste of life on the margins, where even living paycheck to paycheck would be a luxury.
- 50Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianSlant MagazineElise NakhnikianThe premise is undermined by the film's occasionally dubious ethics and its tendency to soft-pedal the dangerous situations it sets up.