Screenwriter Alan Ball ("American Beauty," HBO's "Six Feet Under") makes his directorial debut adapting Alicia Erian's novel from a particularly repellant male perspective.
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09/11/08
Towelhead (2008)
47
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:109
Fresh:51
Rotten:58
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: This story of politics, race and, sexual awakening has moments that pack a punch, but overall, Towelhead never quite achieves the nuance of helmer Alan Ball's television work.
Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Alan Ball, who won an Oscar for his AMERICAN BEAUTY screenplay and an Emmy for the hit cable series SIX FEET UNDER, which he created, makes his feature-film directorial debut with the controversial... [More]
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, Maria Bello, Peter Macdissi
Director: Alan Ball
Reviews for Towelhead
Towelhead is like a great melting pot of writerly self-importance.
09/11/08
Towelhead is a familiar playground for Ball and his obsession with suburban decay, but remains sharply realized by the cast, who turn pure ugliness into an exhaustive psychological obstacle course.
09/11/08
Will give you lots to discuss without necessarily contributing much to the conversation.
09/11/08
One of the most original and daring films of the year that puts us in the skin of a pretty 13-year-old Arab-American and the challenges and dangers brought into her life by her budding sexuality.
09/11/08
[Director] Ball throws out so many provocations in Towelhead that it's no surprise a few land with a thud. But there's no questioning his talent for filmmaking. He's got the gift.
09/11/08
Racism and abuse sabotage teen's sexual awakening.
09/11/08
Indeed, Towelhead's biggest crime remains the blasé belief that audiences want to see a 13 year old engage in well defined adult behaviors.
09/11/08
Even Bishil’s emotionally naked performance gets lost amid Ball’s insistence on rubbing our faces in ugly behavior without offering a counterbalance of insight.
09/11/08
Ball, who can't conceive of human motives beyond the hypertrophic, smutty sexuality that's his stock in trade, primly divides his characters into avatars of Sick Repression or Healthy Liberation.
09/10/08
As it becomes clear that Ball, in essence, has just restaged American Beauty with a socially conscious paint job, the sensationalism of Towelhead looks more and more like a dramatic tic.
09/10/08
Towelhead is the worst movie of its kind since Little Children. It’s another adaptation of a trendy novel’s contrived cynicism ('smartness' in mediaspeak).
09/10/08
Nearly a decade after the triumph of American Beauty, Ball has stumbled to the level of American Booty.
09/10/08
First and foremost a grotesquerie.
09/09/08
Gutsy and big-hearted.
09/08/08
The film is superbly acted, but it’s hard to know what to feel except, 'How can any girl navigate this oversexualized culture?'
09/08/08
A kissing cousin of Todd Field and Todd Solondz, Ball suffocates audiences with a guttersniping view or suburban life, a Haggassian act of exploitation that misrepresents even the most fundamental modes of human interaction.
09/07/08
"Towelhead" is the most disgusting, ethically reprehensible, and irresponsible film to come out of the 21st century's first decade.
09/04/08
In a movie that was once more aptly titled, Nothing Is Private, Towelhead kicks open the suburban bedroom door and exposes often silent personal terrors that are both rudely shocking and uncomfortably familiar.
09/04/08
The ending may be too pat, but the journey to get there -- bitter, spicy, and poignant -- more than compensates for any last-minute fumbles.
09/02/08
Latest News for Towelhead
January 03, 2009:
In a movie that was once more aptly titled, Nothing Is Private, Towelhead kicks open the suburban bedroom door and exposes often silent personal terrors that are both rudely shocking and uncomfortably familiar. 
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December 29, 2008:
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December 28, 2008:
In a movie that was once more aptly titled, Nothing Is Private, Towelhead kicks open the suburban bedroom door and exposes often silent personal terrors that are both rudely shocking and uncomfortably familiar.
More...
September 12, 2008:
Aaron Eckhart Talks Towelhead, Life After TDK
He's been around for awhile, but he's never starred in something as huge as "The Dark Knight" -- so what's it like being Aaron Eckhart right now? The Deadbolt's Jordan Riefe... More...
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