- 9
...an unpredictable grab-bag of funny, tender, ironic, insightful, poignant, hopeful moments that keep surprising you.
—Betsy Sharkey Los Angeles Times
- 8
...lives up to its title, though it could have stepped a little farther out on the ledge.
—Luke Y. Thompson E!
- 7
...a gently disarming segue into pure comedy...
—Justin Chang Variety
- 7
...both a success and a disappointment.
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 7
If the homage [to The Breakfast Club] feels strained at times, the energy level is revived by the inclusion of some lovely visual and aural grace notes, including bits of sweet animation, music by Broken Social Scene, and the wacky sight of Galifianakis disguised in doctor scrubs.
—Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly
- 7
...a humanistic comedy that walks a tightrope of emotions and moods and manages to stay balanced.
—Claudia Puig USA Today
- 7
...an admirably empathetic movie, and as the father of a newly fledged New York high school student, I don't hesitate to recommend it to the legions of children and parents who are fans (or who should be) of Mr. Vizzini's book. I fear, however, that my approval is somewhat damning.
—A. O. Scott New York Times
- 7
...Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, the film's co-writing-directing team, are too principled to tip the film into the slacker reaches of sorrow. Even though the various patients too often come across as cutesy case studies, Fleck and Boden for the most part avoid working their lives up into some grand-scale Cuckoo's Nest-style microcosm of humanity.
—Peter Rainer Christian Science Monitor
- 7
I don't blame you for backing off a movie that focuses on a suicidal teen who learns warm life lessons by spending five days in a Brooklyn hospital's psych ward. Stop worrying. It's Kind of a Funny Story, based on Ned Vizzini's semiautobiographical novel, breaks the jinx.
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 6
...an adaptation of a popular young adult novel that lovingly embraces crowd-pleasing formula...
—Nathan Rabin Onion AV Club
- 5
...bland, terminally whimsical...
—Lou Lumenick New York Post
- 4
"I used to think art was just bourgeois decadence," a [character] says in the end, which is funny, because that's kind of what this film is.
—Eric Hynes Village Voice
- 4
"I used to think art was just bourgeois decadence," a [character] says in the end, which is funny, because that's kind of what this film is.
—Eric Hynes LA Weekly
- 3
...isn't funny. Worse still, it's also not touching, clever, original, or really tolerable unless you have a nostalgic fondness for mid-'90s coming-of-age dramas told through self-consciously quirky devices.
—Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine
- 3
...a major disappointment...
—Chris Cabin filmcritic.com
- 3
...a dramatically inert, lethargic dramedy that isn't nearly as quirky and poignant is it perceives itself.
—Michael Rechtshaffen Hollywood Reporter