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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 54 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The performance by Flora Cross is haunting in its seriousness. She doesn't act out; she acts in. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    With the help of clear direction and some excellent acting, especially from Flora Cross in a memorable debut as Eliza, Bee Season is affecting in ways that movies have all but given up trying to be. Read full review

  • 75
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Based on the captivating novel by Myla Goldberg, Bee Season is evocative and superbly acted. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    A serious film filled with both great and awkward ideas and made as much from the heart as the head. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Bee Season answers the question no Talmudic student or fan of "Unfaithful" has thought to ask: What would Richard Gere look like as a learned Jewish scholar and teacher? Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Co-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel, whose visual schemes lent a hypnotic aura to their previous collaborations -- "The Deep End" and "Suture" -- don't find the right balance of story and image this time. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Ultimately, its success may depend on how emotionally satisfying audiences find this flirtation with Jewish mysticism. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein

    The attempt to be clever is transparent. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    The film is ice cold, never finding a way to invite the viewer into the story, and Richard Gere doesn't convince as a Jewish biblical scholar. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Fine directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel take a detour into mumbo jumbo. Read full review

View more reviews for Bee Season on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Spelling bees and family drama; not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this drama focuses on a family's gradual, difficult breakdown. It includes several tense family scenes, one harsh argument between father and son (yelling and using the f-word), and the revelation of the mother's mental illness (she's having flashbacks to the harrowing sight of her parents' fatal car crash, and stealing objects from houses she can reach by car and by foot). A young spelling prodigy comes to see not only how words are spelled, but also how to forgive and help her fragile family.
  • Families can talk about the increasing distances among the family members. How might Saul pay closer attention to Miriam's needs, even as he pursues his own desire for a profound spiritual experience? How do the various searches for spiritual "connection" parallel one another?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Family grapples with loss of emotional closeness and spiritual direction; a troubled mother becomes a thief; a father becomes obsessed with his young daughter's capacity to "connect with God."
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Flashbacks of car accident that left one character's parents dead (no bodies, but disturbing fragments of visual/emotional trauma).
  • sex false3 Sex: Passionate sex scene between parents.
  • language false3 Language: Brief strong language by father and teenaged son during an argument (f-word).
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Minor.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Bee Season Movie Ratings + Reviews

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So-so 111 fan reviews

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