Metacritic reviews

Masterfully played by Annette Bening, Dorothea is a fascinating character of contradictions.

This is the rare movie that’s redeemed by its unchecked nostalgia.

If the screenplay’s sense of scale can begin to feel limited by an overfamiliarity in environment, it’s suddenly made expansive with the realization of how much these places are extensions of these five people’s lives and personalities.

The sheer likability of these lived-in characters is a powerful magnet, thanks to insightful writing and a note-perfect ensemble anchored by a never-better Annette Bening.

For all of Mills’s cinematic tricks, he’s emerging as a great realist film-maker.

The characters of 20th Century Women, more interconnected than most, generate a group narrative that’s just substantial enough to keep you in thrall by how uninhibited a movie can be.

Although a touch too precious and slight, 20th Century Women is lit from within by its endless curiosity about its evolving characters.

20th Century Women mainly overcomes its flaws through the sheer imaginative sensitivity of Mills’s writing.

20th Century Women is an endless chain of anecdotes, and though many individual moments are winning, the movie as a whole is rudderless. It never achieves an emotional power surge.

20th Century Women relegates a set of extraordinary female characters to supporting players in a standard coming-of-age narrative. It's entertaining, but also disappointing.