It's a self-indulgent, utterly painful film that attempts to explore all sorts of genres, but it fails.

Full Review | Apr 29, 2009

The ranting, whining, kvetching, self-involved family begins to outstay its welcome [...] so that time spent with them can feel like entrapment at a raucous bar mitzvah reception.

Full Review | Mar 1, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005

The unwashed talent and originality of "The Talent Given Us" makes it a compelling and fascinating film.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 1, 2005

Maybe Andrew Wagner was hoping they would be endearingly human, but instead they come off as annoying, hardly the type of people we want to be stuck with for an hour and a half.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 14, 2005

The result is a funny and sometimes touching docu-comedy, sort of like watching your parents if they were in the middle of a Woody Allen movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 14, 2005

Faux documentary, home movie or unexpurgated family therapy? The Talent Given Us, a funny, surprising ride with a mercurial New York clan, is all three.

Full Review | Oct 13, 2005

[A] one-of-a-kind movie that sends the family road-trip genre happily spinning into these self-obsessed, overanalytical times; it's National Lampoon's Vacation as re-imagined by Dr. Phil.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Oct 13, 2005

Andrew Wagner's deeply original, awe-inspiring The Talent Given Us defies classification, another mongrel marvel traducing the boundaries of documentary and fiction.

Full Review | Oct 13, 2005

Deftly embraces some of the trademarks of documentary and cinema verit (using handheld cameras and non-actors, and shooting all on location) to effectively blur fact and fiction.

Full Review | Oct 13, 2005

The notion that there is no escape from one's family is elevated-and ameliorated-by the inkling that the Wagners' story is, in fact, real.

Full Review | Oct 13, 2005

Ultimately, the movie isn't as strong as the idea behind the movie, or the people inside that idea.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Oct 7, 2005

What initially seems hard to watch, even excruciating at times, becomes hard not to, a fascinating fiction that seems to be more real than just about any actual documentary you can imagine.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 7, 2005

If you enjoy HBO's cult hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, you're almost guaranteed to enjoy this bawdy, heartbreaking, deeply discomfiting mockumentary.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 29, 2005

A brave, funny, affecting film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 29, 2005

A work of inspired, embarrassingly hilarious, uncomfortable fiction.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 23, 2005

It's tough to describe The Talent Given Us, which is why it's fascinating.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 22, 2005

Amounts to something like a home movie, offering more interest and entertainment inside the subject brood than it would to outsiders.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 15, 2005

What starts out seeming courageous rapidly reveals itself as a narcissistic, opportunistic stunt.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 4, 2005

travels to some very unexpected places with its warts and all dissection of a family dynamic

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 30, 2005