This is Rebel Without a Cause for the grown-up world.
– ,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
rotten:
Those who remember the creeping terror and eeriness of Mr. Roueche's real-life yarn will be sorry to learn that there is little terror or eeriness in the film.
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
It's hard to think of another Hollywood picture with more to say about the sheer awfulness of 'normal' American family life during the 50s.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
23 Oct 2007
fresh:
James Mason has picked a powerful subject for his first 20th-Fox production and delivers it with quite a bit of dramatic distinction in carrying out the supervisory duties and as the male lead.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
23 Oct 2007
fresh:
The suits wanted a torn-from-the-headlines melodrama; what they got was the director at his expressionistic best, subverting the suburban fantasy and leaving nothing but tattered gray flannel and scorched earth in his wake.