Akhavan has no problem making us stay close and personal. Shirin holds people at a distance, but Akhavan’s approach to filmmaking is intensely intimate.

Full Review | Apr 23, 2024

The humor was so dry, but it was so good.

Full Review | Aug 12, 2021

The movie feels like a feature-length episode of Girls (in which Akhavan would later guest-star), awash with bratty outbursts, awkward threesomes and sloppy physical comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 25, 2021

Far from another trendy comedy, Appropriate Behaviour is sharp, charming and crammed full of life, warts and all.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 27, 2021

Desiree Akhavan's freely accomplished feature debut brings undoubted talent to new tales of love, loss and lesbianism.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2019

An endearingly frank, and bittersweet self-portrait of life as a bi-sexual Iranian-American Brooklynite.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 4, 2019

A script that is often hilarious-"Don't give me your lesbian orphan propaganda!"- delivered via quick-fire dialogue, boasts an improvised feel, while the edit adeptly weaves together the film's intercut timelines.

Full Review | Feb 28, 2019

Ignorance may be bliss for Shirin since knowledge of what's going on only seems to create more anxiety, yet Akhavan is quite savvy both in playing her and writing her, following certain well-worn story tropes just to upend them.

Full Review | Nov 15, 2018

Desiree Akhavan is a name to remember.

Full Review | Nov 9, 2018

You shouldn't be surprised by how much heartache is present, but [you will] simply because we so rarely receive it in this genre.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Sep 20, 2018

... while its themes are important, they've all but fallen to the wayside by the film's third act, which becomes a far too typical hipster comedy (think Frances Ha) with an anticlimactic ending that doesn't bring any closure to Shirin's story.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Sep 1, 2017

Approaching contentious topics with clarity and tact and attempting to find the correct balance between irony and outright offence within a comedic context can often be a tricky affair.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 10, 2016

Appropriate Behavior marks a strong first-time effort for the director, and establishes her ability as both a filmmaker and as an actress with considerable screen presence.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 25, 2016

Ms. Akhavan shows promise as an assured director, a talented writer and an interesting actress.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 3, 2016

What seems most promising about Akhavan's directing talent is her very specific eye.

Full Review | Jan 2, 2016

The terrific film captures, among other things, the terror of trying to get back into the dating scene when you don't really fit into any scene.

Full Review | Jan 2, 2016

This deeply flawed debut is worth checking out. Akhavan is definitely one to watch.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 18, 2015

The movie doesn't seem to be up to anything larger than an amiable slice of urban life, and it doesn't need to be.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 14, 2015

If the lead character in Girls were a bisexual Iranian woman trying to navigate modern life in hipsterish Brooklyn ... it might come out something like Appropriate Behavior...

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Apr 27, 2015

It's a film offering us a rare perspective and highlighting why having female, LGBTQ, and minority perspectives as a whole are so woefully missed and so entirely necessary.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 20, 2015