Take This Waltz (2012)

All Critics (127) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (99) | Rotten (28)

A hard-headed, generous film about love.

August 14, 2012 Full Review

Cath Clarke

Time Out

Top Critic

Polley (who's been an actress herself) never judges these people she's created. Instead, she depicts the giddy, fleeting and illusory nature of new love, and lets us get caught up in it, too.

July 16, 2012 Full Review

Christy Lemire

Associated Press

Top Critic

No one's a cliche; no one speaks dialogue the viewer could have muttered a beat or two ahead of the movie; no one hews to a mode of behavior fabricated to explain away his or her irrational behavior.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

John Anderson

Newsday

Top Critic

[It] often feels thin and self-conscious.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

John Hartl

Seattle Times

Top Critic

Williams lives and breathes her role, Kirby is charming and real, and you actually start to ache and empathize with Rogen - the emptiness and heartache he conveys when Lou and Margot finally thrash things out is crushing.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Critic

Both the small moments and the end product of Waltz are quietly sublime.

July 12, 2012 Full Review

Chris Vognar

Dallas Morning News

Top Critic

This is finely-judged filmmaking from a writing and directing talent to watch.

March 4, 2013 Full Review

Catherine Bray

Film4

A mess of the sort that only a brilliant person can slop up on there.

January 9, 2013 Full Review

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

The gorgeous photography gives summertime Toronto a steamy, sexy glow and the music (including the Leonard Cohen song that provides the title) adds to the film's air of yearning.

January 7, 2013 Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

Though nicely shot and well acted, especially by Michelle Williams, this is a minor, conventional work and a step down for Polley after her splashy directing debut, Away from Her.

January 6, 2013 Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Intriguing, but wispy and built on unlikable characters doing shallow and unpleasant things.

January 6, 2013 Full Review

Roger Moore

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

This slice-of-life character study doesn't tell the whole story. Rather, this is a glimpse into a short part of the life of a woman who seems a lot like an enigma.

December 4, 2012 Full Review

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

Polley's sophomore feature fumbles between reality and fantasy, often insightful but frequently ungrounded. Dig that carnival ride, though.

November 5, 2012

Rob Humanick

Projection Booth

Can a marriage crumble gently?

October 20, 2012 Full Review

Robert Denerstein

Movie Habit

Despite flying perilously close to neurotic indie 'quirkiness', Polley's well considered screenplay and Williams' charming screen presence mean that the film will encourage a wealth of post-viewing dissection.

September 18, 2012 Full Review

Mary Clare Waireri

Fan The Fire

Films like this can, and have, worked before, but unfortunately Polley decided to make her take on this story very plain and bland.

September 14, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

Like its title, Take This Waltz is sometimes conceptually awkward - but it's also occasionally funny, steamy and always well photographed.

September 12, 2012 Full Review

Graham Young

Birmingham Post

This film's saving grace is Williams whose character follows another tormented path of self-discovery/preservation ...

September 9, 2012 Full Review

Lisa Giles-Keddie

HeyUGuys

...smug and horrible, a story about nasty twenty somethings who assume the world should care about them because they're attractive and aspire to arty lifestyles.

September 7, 2012 Full Review | Comments (5)

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Williams works her adorable little chipmunk cheeks to the bone in a typically weighty role.

September 7, 2012 Full Review

Charlie Lyne

Ultra Culture

Sins and all, I ended up liking Sarah Polley's sophomore directorial effort for its unresolved, warm-to-the-touch emotions

September 4, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Margot is silly and annoying, but three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams' makes her conflicted character believably real. Meanwhile, contrivances, indie-film clichés and overall misery make the movie an unhappy dance marathon.

August 24, 2012 Full Review

John Wirt

Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

Polley is very good at depicting the small highs and lows of modern relationships - the frequent poignant moments of everyday intimacy will doubtless strike a chord with many couples.

August 23, 2012 Full Review

Damon Wise

Radio Times

Many films go to great lengths to inspire an emotional response, but annoyance probably shouldn't be a high priority.

August 22, 2012 Full Review

William Bibbiani

CraveOnline

Remarkable and immensely moving.

August 19, 2012 Full Review

Philip French

Observer [UK]

Polley is a subtle filmmaker, and a surprising one, too.

August 17, 2012 Full Review

Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

• 1. Daniel: You seem restless, in a kind of permanent way.
  – Submitted by April S (5 months ago)
• 1. Margot: I'm afraid of being afraid.
  2. Daniel: That sound like the most dangerous thing in the world.
  – Submitted by Sou C (6 months ago)
• 1. Geraldine: New things get old.
  – Submitted by Lauren W (10 months ago)
• 1. Geraldine: Life has a gap in it... It just does. You don't go crazy trying to fill it.
  – Submitted by Chris P (10 months ago)
• 1. Geraldine: You're good news. You know that?
  – Submitted by Chris P (10 months ago)