Terri

Directed by Azazel Jacobs

(R)

***

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Don’t dismiss Terri as another rote indie dramedy about an outcast, said Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times. Anchored by a young actor who creates a character that could be “the embodiment of teenage strength and weakness,” this “constantly surprising” film proves to be a “lovely lyrical ode to high school misfits and the adults they grow into.” Forsaken at home and bullied at school because of his weight, Terri (Jacob Wysocki) shows signs of serious depression when he begins turning up late for classes wearing pajamas. But his life turns around after he joins a guidance class overseen by John C. Reilly. Reilly’s performance as an eccentric assistant principal really tilts the movie in “the direction it needs to go,” said Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News. “A serious marvel in almost everything he does,” Reilly makes the harried administrator compellingly idiosyncratic before the story finally disappoints. “For quite a while,” though, the film conjures “a sort of beautiful anguish,” said Kyle Smith in the New York Post. A “tender portrait of teen fragility,” it has a unique ability “to make you smile and wince at the same time.”