Short Term 12
Kids raising kids in a group foster home
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
(R)
***
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“The best indie movies give you the feeling that their directors not only wanted but needed to make them,” said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. That’s the case with this debut about a group foster home, written by a young director who’s worked in one. Stars Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. both prove superb as the counselors who run the home, two conscientious young people who are hiding a romantic relationship—and a pregnancy—from the troubled teens they hope to guide. But “a war gets fought between authenticity and hokum” in this film, said Mike D’Angelo in the A.V. Club. Though the emotions on display early on “have a real-world level of complexity,” creator Destin Daniel Cretton eventually “succumbs to a screenwriter’s worst impulses,” goosing the story needlessly. Somehow, Larson even uses the phoniness to her advantage, said Joe Morgenstern in The Wall Street Journal. Grace, the “marvelously complex heroine” she’s created, is “dangerously tender” and “mysteriously serious,” and you’ll be glad you have an entire movie to decipher why.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How community-based tourism can reshape travel
IN And five tips for finding a responsible community travel company
By Henry Haselock Published
-
Ed Martin: The US attorney taking on Trump's enemies
In the Spotlight He advocated for Jan. 6 defendants. Now Martin leads D.C. prosecutions.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Hot to get older: extreme heat can make people age faster
Under the radar New research shows warming temperatures can affect biological age
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published