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Whole New Thing (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:24
Fresh:16
Rotten:8
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: The tender little moments of adolescence are beautifully captured in this warm and modest coming-of-age drama.
Theatrical Release:Apr 6, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Aaron Webber makes an outstanding feature-film debut in WHOLE NEW THING as 13-year-old Emerson, a precocious homeschooled boy who spends most of his time, when not alone in his room, with his very... [More]
Starring: Aaron Webber, Daniel Maclvor, Robert Joy, Callum Keith Rennie
Director: Amnon Buchbinder
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Reviews for Whole New Thing
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 4/5 |
a small-scale film with big emotional payoffs. Full Review |
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3/4 |
The movie is both amusing and disturbing as it explores Emerson's lurching efforts to bond with his teacher. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Toronto-based filmmaker Amnon Buchbinder tackles the sensitive subject of adolescent sexuality in this winning coming-of-age character study set in a wintry small town in Nova Scotia. Full Review |
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 2/4 |
These knots are all tied by the end, but not memorably so. Full Review |
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This wry, tender 2005 Canadian comedy puts a fresh spin on the theme of adolescent sexual awakening. Full Review |
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3/5 |
A gentle, perceptive Canadian film. Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
Buchbinder displays an original filmic eye, but mostly Whole New Thing is a few drafts short of an emotionally fulfillilng feature. Full Review |
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3/4 |
... promises slightly more than it delivers but still comes together nicely. Full Review |
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But what's salutary about this effort is the canny intelligence and emotional understanding director Amnon Buchbinder has brought to the mostly well-wrought screenplay he wrote with MacIvor. Full Review |
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1.5/5 |
The dialogue has a sour, sitcom ring that grows tiresome and irritating before the second reel. Full Review |
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B |
With its narcissistic, not-as- sharp-as- he-thinks- he-is juvenile hero and weird approach to bridging the generation gap, Whole New Thing plays a lot like Wes Anderson's Rushmore, only sober instead of whimsical. Full Review |
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3/6 |
... well-intentioned but underwhelming ... Full Review |
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3.5/4 |
The cast is uniformly excellent, but Webber in his first feature role is a stand out, delivering a subtle performance that offers a fully realized portrayal of a smart, sensitive, confused, and sometimes bratty and obnoxious youth. Full Review |
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4.5/5 |
If its portrait of hippie parents raising a misfit child has much in common with Rebecca Miller's Ballad of Jack and Rose, Whole New Thing refrains from going to the same extremes.
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A- |
Buchbinder's direction creates a tremendous sense of location and adolescent awkwardness that blossoms beautifully during the picture. Full Review |
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After a precisely crafted first hour with nary a detail out of place, Whole New Thing comes unglued toward the end, spiraling into melodrama without ever escaping its whiny, indie-rock soundtrack. Full Review |
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Neither is it funny -- or poignant or insightful or remotely worth one's time except as a reminder that Canadian indies can be every bit as feeble as American ones. Full Review |
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6/10 |
[The film] shows respect for open communications and differing life styles and lets the audience in on diverse feelings and ways of acting them out. Full Review |
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Thing suffers the familiar curse of Canadian seriocomedy -- just nice enough in content and stylistically like a telepic. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Evinces an Ed Zwickian dramatic tenor that would probably scan better on ABC. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for Whole New Thing
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