God Help the Girl

Critics Consensus

While it may strike harder-hearted viewers as excessively twee, God Help the Girl floats by on its sweet charm and talented cast.

God Help the Girl Photos

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Movie Info

In God Help the Girl, writer/director Stuart Murdoch creates a poignant coming-of-age story that doubles as a sublime indie-pop musical from one of indie pop's biggest songwriters. The project began as a suite of songs, written while Murdoch was between records and tours as lead singer of Belle & Sebastian. He nurtured it for nearly a decade into a fully formed film, set in the bohemian fantasia of Glasgow's West End, which is populated by mods, rockers, and emo kids who have no qualms about breaking into song and dance. (c) Amplify

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Comedy, Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Romance
Directed By:

Stuart Murdoch
Written By:

Stuart Murdoch
In Theaters:

Sep 5, 2014 limited
On Disc/Streaming:

Apr 14, 2015
Runtime:

111 minutes
Studio:

Amplify

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Cast

Emily Browning
as Eve

Olly Alexander
as James

Hannah Murray
as Cass

Pierre Boulanger
as Anton

Cora Bissett
as Miss B

Mark Radcliffe
as Findlay

Stuart Maconie
as Donovan

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Critic Reviews for God Help the Girl

All Critics (74) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (24)

God Help the Girl is about aspirations and goals, musical or otherwise. Murdoch is working some things out here, gracefully on the whole.

Oct 10, 2014 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Brad Wheeler
Globe and Mail
Top Critic
"Girl" meanders narratively and with random chronology ...

Oct 2, 2014 | Full Review…

Peter Keough
Boston Globe
Top Critic
The movie is like a milk shake so sweet that you want to keep drinking, even as you begin to gag.

Sep 18, 2014 | Full Review…

J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic
It's adorable. It's also very thin.

Sep 18, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Barbara VanDenburgh
Arizona Republic
Top Critic
Browning, staring down the camera and singing up a storm, brings buckets of soulfulness to a script that might not be terribly deep.

Sep 12, 2014 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic
At 90 minutes, this material might have sped through. Coming closer to two hours, it drags.

Sep 11, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4

John Hartl
Seattle Times
Top Critic
Feels like one incredibly long music video about an endlessly recycled angst of struggling to follow one's dreams.

Sep 4, 2019 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
The kind of film that requires its audience to be on a very specific cultural wavelength to fully embrace, but its openness and heart should be enough to win over even the most jaded among us.

Aug 6, 2019 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Matthew Lucas
From the Front Row
Murdock and company haven't built a strong enough foundation for all the froth, leaving you with a film that tries to be provocative and meaningful but winds up settling for adorable.

Apr 4, 2019 | Rating: 2.5 | Full Review…

Hope Madden
Screen Relish
Some of the songs aren't as strong as others, but the film somehow carries them off with an air of self-aware, carefree charisma.

Apr 2, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Ed Frankl
CineVue
It's a bit too restrained on all fronts, but the film's young leads are wonderful, the songs are catchy and clever (Belle & Sebastian fans will be thrilled), the cinematography is shimmery and sharp, and it's an all-around pleasurable experience.

Mar 22, 2019 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…

Bernard Boo
Way Too Indie
Look past those bright pop montages, watch Browning emote 1,000 things with just her eyes, and really listen to the lyrics to get the full picture.

Mar 2, 2019 | Full Review…

Amie Simon
Three Imaginary Girls

View All Critic Reviews (74)

Audience Reviews for God Help the Girl

Apr 29, 2015

Belle and Sebastian's songs highlight this story about a depressed woman who forms a band with a quirky hipster. Tonally inconsistent, God Help the Girl splits its personality from a so-quirky-it's-sweet love-ish story to a sad tale about a woman's struggle with mental illness. It is as though director Stuart Murdoch couldn't figure out what story to craft with the assortment of songs. Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, and Skins and Game of Thrones alum, the ever-delightful Hannah Murray all give hipster-cute performances that should be in a different movie, one that actually takes advantage of their charms. Overall, if you're tired of the hipster aesthetic, you should see the opposite of this film.

Jim H Super Reviewer
Dec 12, 2014

Liked this. Not my usual thing at all, being a musical, but most of the songs are good and I liked the style of the whole movie. I think I would wear just about everything Emily wears here! It maybe could have been slightly shorter, and Cassie's voice irritated me, but mostly good.

Nicki M Super Reviewer
Oct 18, 2014

An Interesting British musical about a teenager with an eating disorder who struggles to make friends and lives for music. Exceedingly catch songs and a great cast make this worth seeing.

Ian W Super Reviewer
Oct 03, 2014

A charming little british musical backed by hypnotic tracks and gorgeous cinematography. God Help The Girl feels like a classic movie, the upbeat energy contrasting the characters' struggles in the film carried it gracefully. The movie has it's faults but none is too distracting to overshadow the story. Stuart Murdoch's directorial debut is not that bad, I'm excited for what the future holds for him as a director.

Chris H Super Reviewer