Hannah Takes the Stairs, the latest comedy of mannerisms in the “mumblecore” style, is maddening for 60 of its 83 minutes.
Comment
01/09/09
Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)
58
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:45
Fresh:26
Rotten:19
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Although not terribly focused, Hannah Takes the Stairs contains refreshing realism.
Reviews for Hannah Takes the Stairs
There is something teeth-grindingly cutesy about the whole thing, reaching epic levels of dippiness in the, ahem, nude trumpet-playing scenes. That makes it sound interesting, come to think of it, and perhaps it is.
01/09/09
Top CriticFor every revelatory moment of sharp perception there’s an eternity of goofy smiles, stuttered dialogue and embarrassed glances.
01/09/09
There’s only so much twentysomething navel-gazing one can listen to before wanting to slap some sense — and some fully formed sentences — into them all.
01/09/09
Top CriticIt’s never enough to establish any sensitivity or social pertinence beyond the trifling tiffs which are playing out on screen.
01/09/09
Top CriticThe film meanders along in conversational style, encouraging improvisational realism but also the thought that maybe these middle-class characters, not quite slackers, are less interesting than they, or the director, think they are.
01/09/09
Smart and engaging, but too many meandering breeze-shooting sequences.
01/09/09
Top CriticLess dazed and confused than mumbling and mundane, this drama focuses on social awkwardness and twentysomething blues. Skipping aimlessly from scene to scene it offers little observations and rewards low expectations.
01/09/09
Top CriticWatchable independent drama from the mumblecore crowd, though it's not quite sharp enough, funny enough or insightful enough to really get off the ground and the characters are occasionally irritating.
01/09/09
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01/09/09
Top CriticHannah is charmingly self-absorbed without the extenuating circumstance of self-knowledge. Above all, she's young. The movie forgives her for that and, with occasional misgivings, so do we.
09/07/07
Perfectly encapsulates the slow-motion, frustrated feeling of early adulthood, when longing and inchoate desire easily outnumber actual transformative events and achievements.
09/28/07
Top CriticThe unexpected appeal of this seeming non-story is cumulative; what begins as a maddening portrait of a microcosm of liberal, well-educated white kids (with the occasional ethnic friend) steadily grows on you.
07/29/07
Gerwig's talents might be better displayed in some form of scripted or structured film rather than this erratic warts 'n' all waste of time.
08/21/07
[Actor] Gerwig [turns] her terminally anxious character into a poster girl for an entire subset of young women on the verge. Every generation gets the Darling they deserve. We now have ours.
08/23/07
Gerwig is a modest (like everything in Mumblecore) revelation in the role, with a lithe, teasing sexuality and a vibrant personality that seems to be darting off in as many directions as her tousled blonde hair.
09/27/07
Hannah (Greta Gerwig), the peroxided heroine, leaps from one hookup to the next, but is she searching for passion or just treading water? In the new generational film movement that's been dubbed 'Mumblecore,' it's often hard to tell the difference.
09/05/07
Note to anyone who stumbles into this snoozefest: forget about taking the stairs—head straight for the nearest exit.
08/24/07
The result is a mesh of creative sensibilities that never quite congeals.
06/25/07
It’s impossible to predict how the Mumblecorps will mature but, given their immersion in the moment, I suspect that the films they’ve made will age very well.
08/21/07
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