Raising Victor Vargas Reviews
January 11, 2018
Peter Sollett's remarkable movie about the lives and loves of Latino teenagers in New York's Lower East Side is an unexpected treat.
February 18, 2012
Full Review
| Original Score: A+
December 30, 2006
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
January 24, 2004
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
September 9, 2003
A keenly observed, captivating, and innately funny portrait of teenagers coming to terms with their sexuality.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
July 5, 2003
A marvel of closely observed, intimately captivating moments.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
June 8, 2003
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
May 30, 2003
It is throughly involving, depicting the real and recognizable frustrations of teenagers and the grown-ups who have responsibility for them.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
May 28, 2003
Real, sweet and often really sweet.
Original Score: 3/4
May 16, 2003
In Raising Victor Vargas, everyone has feelings.
Original Score: 4/5
May 15, 2003
The narrative is thin, but the little-known cast (who helped writer-director Peter Sollett develop the characters) bring an element of realism to roles that defy stereotypes and pigeonholing.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
May 7, 2003
A satisfying motion picture that wins its audience over because the characters are allowed to be themselves.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
May 2, 2003
For those sick of the tired conventions of 'rom-coms' (as Hollywood wags call romantic comedies), Vargas is a refreshing cure, frank about healthy teenage curiosity and sexuality in ways that don't make them punchlines to smutty jokes.
Original Score: 3.5/4
May 2, 2003
There's nothing in the utterly enchanting Raising Victor Vargas you haven't seen before; you'd just be hard-pressed to name another movie that did it as well.
Original Score: 3.5/4
May 1, 2003
Every frame of this movie feels real.
Original Score: A-
May 1, 2003
Raising Victor Vargas has landed exactly the right actors for a script that already gets points for respecting its teenage characters.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
May 1, 2003
The film offers a realistic and funny slice of life.
Original Score: 4/5
May 1, 2003
A delightful example of what happens when a rather slight story is handled with passion, humor and care.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
April 30, 2003
It is warm, generous, courtly, compassionate and humanistic in the best sense.
April 25, 2003
First-time writer/director Peter Sollett, working with mostly nonprofessional actors who live in the neighborhood in which the film is set, has caught something lovely in that golden summer light.
Original Score: 3.5/4