Struck by Lightning Reviews
Top CriticAt times the film is charming against its own will, but it remains needlessly complicated and obsessed with its own mythology and metaphors.
Full Review
| Original Score: C-
There isn't much to say about Struck by Lightning, except that it's one of those interchangeable teen movies that lands in theaters in early January, the morgue for films nobody knows what to do with.
Blu-ray.com
It's not exactly ambitious, but Struck by Lightning is a noble failure, with individual elements more interesting than the strangled, distracted whole.
Full Review
| Original Score: D+
Ultimately, it all portends a much brighter future for Colfer than for Carson.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
In his screenwriting debut, Glee's gifted Chris Colfer, 22, proves he can lace a line with sass and soul.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Except for Ms. Janney's monstrous mother and an Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother (Polly Bergen), "Struck by Lightning" gives its characters no dimension.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Colfer is still very young, but he needs to learn that "snide" is not a point of view.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
Struck by Lightning means well, but its gentle dissection of high school cliques brings nothing new to the genre ...
Slant Magazine
A class-five pity party so unbearably condescending and unconvincing that it might just make you run out and buy an "I'm With Mitt" t-shirt, it makes an inadvertent but hugely compelling pro-bullying argument.
Full Review
| Original Score: 0/4
If only "Struck by Lightning" had a sharper, stronger perspective, it might have made more of its conceit.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Cinemalogue.com
The main character is more off-putting than endearing.
AV Club
Lightning is a funny, fast-moving movie, packed with barbed one-liners, goofy hyperbole, and all the oversized exasperation of teen angst. But it's too acid, particularly where Colfer is concerned.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
Chris Colfer's Glee appeal is AWOL in this strained dark comedy about a high school misfit.
Oregonian
A decidedly uncertain step into feature films from an actor with a long career ahead of him.
Full Review
| Original Score: C+
Film Journal International
"Glee" favorite Chris Colfer wrote and stars in this particularly self-serving vehicle, the narcissism of which impedes the fun.
All but the hard-core Colferphiles slink out embarrassed, feeling as confused and discombobulated as if they too just took an electric bolt to the brain.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
One can't blame Colfer for wanting to expand his range, but he's created a character who is neither hero nor villain, in a black comedy that is neither dark nor funny enough.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Television Without Pity
Struck By Lightning possesses a jarring mixture of tones, with moments of dark comedy sitting somewhat uneasily alongside scenes of quiet domestic drama.
What makes this film rise a bit above the pack is the recurring idea that everyone wants to leave their nests and fly high into the sky, but few are able.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
