The Playroom

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Movie Info

In 1970s suburbia, Maggie and her younger siblings spend the night telling each other stories in the attic. Downstairs, as their parents entertain guests over the course of a gin-soaked evening, truths are unearthed and betrayals come to light. With standout performances from John Hawkes, Molly Parker, and a cast of talented young actors, Julia Dyer's second feature is an honest and challenging look at the reality behind the façade of a seemingly perfect American family. -- (C) Freestyle

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Drama
Directed By:

Julia Dyer
Written By:

Gretchen Dyer
In Theaters:

Feb 8, 2013 limited
On Disc/Streaming:

Mar 11, 2013
Box Office:

$3,900
Runtime:

83 minutes
Studio:

Freestyle Releasing

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Cast

John Hawkes
as Martin Cantwell

Molly Parker
as Donna Cantwell

Olivia Harris
as Maggie Cantwell

Jonathon McClendon
as Christian Cantwell

Alexandra Doke
as Janie Cantwell

Cody Linley
as Ryan

Ian Veteto
as Sam Cantwell

Jonathan Brooks
as Clark Knotts

Lydia Mackay
as Nadia Knotts

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News & Interviews for The Playroom

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Critic Reviews for The Playroom

All Critics (24) | Top Critics (12)

You have your basic family psychodrama, except there's no real heat either downstairs or up.

Apr 5, 2013 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

Tom Long
Detroit News
Top Critic
Modest in scale, it's the kind of American independent film that brings some honor to that shopworn descriptor.

Feb 14, 2013 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic
The film uses the upper-middle-class setting effectively, even as it resorts to heavy-handed symbolism and melodrama in its dour, mostly unforgiving portrait of parental dysfunction.

Feb 8, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Sheri Linden
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic
A detailed, and depressing portrait of grim, forced independence. Lightened only by the sense that if these kids are learning anything, it is how to survive.

Feb 8, 2013 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic
This imitation "Ice Storm" is as refreshing as a step into a puddle of slush.

Feb 8, 2013 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

Kyle Smith
New York Post
Top Critic
Between the loaded conversations and metaphors, and the phony overlay of a children's fairy tale, The Playroom can't stop telegraphing themes and interpreting itself. There's nothing left for the audience to do.

Feb 7, 2013 | Full Review…

Scott Tobias
NPR
Top Critic
While the adults in the Dyer sisters' latest feature suffer the children, so do they suffer the patience of an audience desperately searching for a point of interest in the troupe presented to us here.

Aug 6, 2019 | Full Review…

Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
Leaving too many questions unanswered, and an ending that's less than satisfying, The Playroom intrigues and latches on to the viewer's conscience enough to stick through the tale.

Dec 26, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Clayton Davis
AwardsCircuit.com
Molly Parker is Oscar-worthy in the juicy role of John Hawkes' alcoholic, stylish, sexy/pathetic wife.

Apr 19, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
The stuff with the adults is drab and stale, but the kids' scenes are excellent.

Apr 4, 2013 | Rating: 2.5/4

Chris Hewitt
St. Paul Pioneer Press
In the tradition of The Ice Storm, The Playroom revisits 1970s suburbia, when the chilly civility between husband and Stepford wife bumps up against the sexual revolution.

Mar 26, 2013 | Rating: 7.4/10 | Full Review…

Annlee Ellingson
Paste Magazine
It's a misfire from screenwriter Gretchen Dyer and director Julia Dyer, who can't connect the puzzle pieces, resulting in a movie of attentive performances working through ill-defined storytelling.

Feb 15, 2013 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

Brian Orndorf
Blu-ray.com

View All Critic Reviews (24)

Audience Reviews for The Playroom

Jul 24, 2014

Some teenagers imagine losing their virginity as a romantic rite of passage. And then there is Maggie(Olivia Harris) who just wants to get it over with her boyfriend Ryan(Cody Linley) in the family garage. Even that does not go as planned, as her mother(Molly Parker) soon arrives home, followed by her father(John Hawkes), a lawyer. And eventually the neighbors(Lydia Mackay & Jonathan Brooks). For the record, we have been here before plenty of times. Specifically, 1975 when parents were behaving badly and children were left to pick up the pieces.(Actually, Molly Parker was also already, in the late lamented television series "Swingtown" which covered a lot of the same ground.) And then there is the fact that the filmmakers seem to be using the film solely to work out some long festering parental issues here.(To be honest, if I had four kids, I would drink heavily, snort cocaine, inject heroin...oh you get the drill. Just be thankful I'm never having kids.) But beneath all of those tired cliches, "The Playroom" gets right how in larger families older kids take care of the younger ones. Plus, the movie is artfully constructed with a neat use of camera and voiceovers to give a dreamy effect to the proceedings. And each in their own way Molly Parker and John Hawkes are both excellent but you knew that already.

Walter M Super Reviewer
Jan 30, 2013

The four children of middle-class couple Hawkes and Parker are sent to the attic while their parents drunkenly entertain another couple downstairs. As the night progresses, and the drink flows, a revelation comes out. This stagey variation on 'The Ice Storm' seriously wastes its acting talent with a tired, cliched and pretentious script. The seventies setting only seems to serve as an excuse to play a few tunes from the era. Newcomer Harris is impressive as the eldest daughter, and will go on to bigger and better things undoubtedly, but if you tuned randomly into any soap opera episode it wouldn't be much worse than this.

The Movie W Super Reviewer