54
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83The PlaylistAlly JohnsonThe PlaylistAlly JohnsonIt’s an insightful film that delivers an honest portrait of four girls trying to navigate high school, expectations, friendships and their oftentimes heartbreaking need to be desired and loved.
- 75RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyThe film gets increasingly hallucinatory as it progresses, and there's a vivid sense of growing danger.
- 70Village VoicePete Vonder HaarVillage VoicePete Vonder HaarQuinn Shephard’s directorial debut, Blame, leans heavily on this persistent despair, yes, but also leverages it in innovative and occasionally startling ways.
- 67The Film StageJohn FinkThe Film StageJohn FinkWell-acted and handsomely lensed by Aaron Kovalchik, Blame is an engaging debut that subverts the male gaze that might be associated with this kind of teacher/student relationship drama. It is objective without being titillating as it delivers low-key character driven thrills.
- 67IndieWireMichael NordineIndieWireMichael NordineThe witch-hunt metaphor that emerges from Abigail’s bullying is more overt than it needs to be, but Shephard clearly didn’t rely on SparkNotes in crafting her film.
- 60VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanShephard has a lively eye for the neurotic ripples of high-school society, but her most audacious gambit is to dare to place the audience in a grey zone between innocence and judgment regarding a relationship that plays out more sympathetically than it should.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterJon FroschThe Hollywood ReporterJon FroschBlame essentially flirts with one set of clichés only to settle down with another. But it has the merit of at least striving for the substantive (the agonies of teenage girlhood) over the merely titillating (transgressive sex).
- 40Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinThis capably acted, if unevenly paced film often lacks focus and depth.
- 38Slant MagazineDerek SmithSlant MagazineDerek SmithIn attempting to grapple with issues of bullying, mental health, burgeoning sexuality, and pedophilia, the film bites off more than it can chew.
- 30The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyBlame is earnest but underdeveloped. At the same time, it’s overdetermined and often overplayed.