52
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 79Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpPaste MagazineAndrew CrumpThink of the film as an extended cousin of Too Many Cooks, where parody gives way to weirdness, which gives way to surrealism, which gives way to genuine horror by the end. Bonkers as the combination sounds, and it is unimpeachably bonkers, the effect of their marriage is hypnotic.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovTelevision is reality, and reality is less than television. And that is, by the end of the 72-minute-long VHYes’ gleefully immersive, intermittently profound “found footage,” a lesson Ralph osmotically absorbs through the VHS viewfinder of his life.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThough hardly groundbreaking in either its content or its aesthetics, the film is more serious than it initially lets on, and can only benefit from the VHS nostalgia that has, often irrationally, taken root in some quarters.
- A lot of the times the jokes feel reliant on the video format and its limitations, as if the video tracking and purposefully bad production qualities can fill the gap between ideas and execution. Instead, the gap gets filled with memories of shows and movies that do a better job at the same thing.
- 58The A.V. ClubA.A. DowdThe A.V. ClubA.A. DowdUnfortunately, this handheld coming-of-age story is frequently interrupted by variably convincing stretches of channel surfing, as though someone recorded over much of the former with the latter. And even with pros like Charlyne Yi and Kerri Kenney lending their deadpan chops, real weird TV is funnier. Weirder, too.
- 40VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyThe best thing the film has going for it is editor Avner Shiloah’s scrambled channel-surfing assembly, which seldom sticks with any bit long enough for it to get too stale. Still, VHYes feels overextended even at the 66 slim minutes it takes to reach the final credits.
- 38Slant MagazineClayton DillardSlant MagazineClayton DillardThe film settles much too comfortably into the well-trodden footsteps of other works.
- 30The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisEven when the ghost of a point materializes — that recording ephemera can be a self-soothing behavior — VHYes is too unsophisticated to develop it.
- 25RogerEbert.comNick AllenRogerEbert.comNick AllenI didn't see what was funny about the shallow wackiness of VHYes.