This is a dumb movie about people who are allegedly smart, and it was an aggravating experience to watch.

Full Review | Jun 9, 2020

It's unfortunate that the script missed the mark, ending up as neither a truly funny and pointed comedy or a sharp, dramatic exploration of some interesting concepts.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 27, 2018

While the performances can't really be faulted, the meekly oddball material they're saddled with definitely can.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 6, 2018

Birthmarked is not awful by any means, but it is certainly forgettable.

Full Review | May 25, 2018

When its mildly interesting 88 minutes are done, one is left to wonder only if the film could have been a lot better in someone else's hands - perhaps those belonging to Wes Anderson.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 25, 2018

The movie feels longer than it actually is - always a bad sign - and the climax and denoument are positively underwhelming.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | May 24, 2018

Hoss-Desmarais and screenwriter Marc Tulin take a premise worthy of Wes Anderson (or Robert Altman, or Paul Thomas Anderson, or Mike Leigh) and slowly, methodically choke every last glimmer of life out of it.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | May 24, 2018

Effectively a movie about child abuse. There is no sentiment, and as for this being a comedy, there are no laughs. It's not as if this is even a novel idea. As recently as last year, there was Brigsby Bear, which at least had some charm

Full Review | Original Score: C | May 23, 2018

Neither the children nor the main couple are particularly enthralling, and the talent can't save the weakness of Marc Tulin's and Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais's story. For the most part, it seemed Birthmarked couldn't quite figure out its own identity.

Full Review | Apr 17, 2018

Birthmarked proves both heartfelt and frustrating, perhaps a little like parenthood itself.

Full Review | Apr 17, 2018

Uneven comedy has strong language, sexuality.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 30, 2018

It never quite swells your heart like a film on familial love and bonding should.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 30, 2018

Never sells its premise and looks shoddy when compared to fictions that had a pretty obvious influence on it.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2018

Director Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais shows he can do a pretty good Anderson, but this experiment, otherwise, feels incomplete.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Mar 30, 2018

A satire that's unable to deliver on a promising hypothesis.

Full Review | Mar 29, 2018

Insightful when it comes to the struggles of parental control and funny about the emergence of personality, funneled into mildly quirky, appealingly strange tale.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 28, 2018

There are a few droll moments sprinkled throughout "Birthmarked," which merely highlight the dreariness of the many, many others that are not.

Full Review | Mar 28, 2018

Occasionally amusing but frustrating spoof of the "Nature vs. Nurture" child-rearing debate.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 22, 2018