Opening

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The Lifeguard (2013)

tomatometer

18

Average Rating: 3.7/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 9

No consensus yet.

audience

32

liked it
Average Rating: 2.8/5
User Ratings: 2,713

My Rating

Movie Info

Leigh, almost 30, is living a seemingly perfect life in New York. But when her career and love life both come crashing down, she flees to her suburban hometown and regresses right back into high school life. Picking up right where her teen halcyon days left off, she moves into her old room with her parents, hangs out with friends who never left town, and reclaims her high school job as a condo-complex lifeguard. But as Leigh enjoys shirking off adult life and responsibilities, and enters into an

R,

Drama, Comedy

Liz W. Garcia

Oct 8, 2013

Screen Media Films - Official Site External Icon

Cast

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All Critics (30) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (26)

Although writer-director Liz W. Garcia's wistful, angsty tale treads familiar ground, the filmmaker has crafted a credibly flawed and conflicted heroine who holds interest.

August 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The central character simply comes across as whiny and entitled instead of troubled and dark, and the central theme of getting your groove back by acting like a kid again has been done many times by much more talented filmmakers.

August 30, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Post
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie really depends on Bell, and her story, and neither is interesting or compelling enough to engage us.

August 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This directorial debut by Liz W. Garcia, a writer for television, bears some echoes of its creator's origins, going from deft to trite in its drama and setting up character arcs that feel sappily resolved within its feature length.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
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The movie's being billed in some quarters as a comedy, which is a hell of a stretch given that the plot expands to take in statutory rape and teen suicide.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This sorrowful, achingly wise little drama has a lot to say about the dangers of hanging on to youth at all costs.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: New York Daily News
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Drama is short on story, long on illicit romance.

September 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

A strikingly realistic approach lifts this comedy-drama above the fray, combining skilful writing and direction with transparent performances that reveal the characters' internal struggles.

September 3, 2013 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall
Shadows on the Wall

The writer/director stifles any actual feeling with thudding, heavily-underlined subtext-as-text dialogue and an overreliance on indie rock scored musical montages

September 2, 2013 Full Review Source: Television Without Pity
Television Without Pity

"The Lifeguard" is hemmed in by vagueness and cliche, and nearly ruined by its soundtrack, an insistent barrage of thematically obvious alt-radio music cues.

September 2, 2013 Full Review Source: RogerEbert.com
RogerEbert.com

With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, you can go home again; The Lifeguard just proves that sometimes it's not the best course of action.

August 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Shared Darkness
Shared Darkness

The film strains to be hip and edgy in its exploration of catharsis through starting over, and its central relationship feels more contrived than authentic.

August 30, 2013 Full Review Source: Cinemalogue.com
Cinemalogue.com

Solid performances can't save the undercooked, shallow, overly simplistic screenplay.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru
NYC Movie Guru

Bell gives a strong performance, eschewing her own perky persona to navigate the melancholia, but the script's conclusion fails to go as deep as the heavy lead-in requires.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Oregonian
Oregonian

What the film desperately needed was some originality.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Examiner.com
Examiner.com

Apparently it's hard to be a grownup in today's crazy world without committing consequence-free statutory rape. Ugh.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher
Flick Filosopher

The Lifeguard sadly drowns in its own clichés.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Paste Magazine
Paste Magazine

Like its lead character, The Lifeguard is stuck in a rut. After establishing Bell's frustration within the first five minutes, the movie continually reiterates it.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: AV Club

Rather than feeling as though we're emotionally connected to [the lead character] during her descent, we're all too aware of the machinations of the screenplay, struggling to find ways to sink her and then bring her back up.

August 29, 2013 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat
Aisle Seat

The fit's a little loose, but Bell reveals impressive range with this challenging role, helping to snap writer/director Liz W. Garcia out of the fog of absurdity she seems determine to remain in.

August 28, 2013 Full Review Source: Blu-ray.com
Blu-ray.com

Audience Reviews for The Lifeguard

This Summer Growing Up is Optional.

Good movie! The film is only exiting and exhilarating if you know before hand what Statutory Rape is and what are the consequences if you were to engage in this illicit act. In Connecticut, the legal consequence for statutory rape is prison for 10 to 20 years. Here in Florida is even worse. It means to be a registered as a sex offender for the rest of your life and not being able to live within a 3 mile radius of a High School, park or where children play. To find a place like that here in South Florida, you would have to move under a Highway and close to the Everglades swamps. Though a decidedly darker film than one would expect, tragic moments are often interrupted by a certain lightness that, in the film's conclusion, allows the audience to hope for our protagonists' future. This is definitely a film worth watching, if simply for the experience of becoming invested in this deeply character-driven story.

A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager.
October 3, 2013
MANUGINO
Manu Gino

Super Reviewer

three stars
September 11, 2013
YodaMasterJedi
MisterYoda ?

Super Reviewer

There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.

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