White Girl Reviews
Toussaint Egan Polygon
White Girl is a shocking and frenetically paced movie, a nightmarish thrill ride comparable to the Safdie brothers' 2017 Good Time that's equal parts exhausting, exhilarating, and heartbreaking to watch.
Full Review | Oct 22, 2021
Kip Mooney Fresh Fiction
The feature debut of writer-directed Elizabeth Wood tries and fails to balance being harrowing and disarmingly funny.
Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Aug 10, 2021
David Bax Battleship Pretension
White Girl so desperately wants to be shocking. Instead, it's merely numbing.
Full Review | Jan 5, 2021
Steven Prokopy Third Coast Review
In the end, the powerful acting and the authenticity of the performances and situations win the day, but don't expect to leave the film unscathed.
Full Review | Apr 28, 2020
Brigid Presecky FF2 Media
Ms. Wood's White Girl is painstakingly cathartic. But to what end? We are not sure.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 16, 2019
Michael J. Casey Boulder Weekly
An unabashed, painfully honest depiction of someone who is so laser focused on the here and now...
Full Review | Aug 3, 2019
Daniel Barnes Dare Daniel
It's all a little empty and pro forma, but Saylor is an absolute powderkeg - it feels as though her character is capable of anything, which is thrilling and terrifying all at once.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 1, 2019
Stephen Saito Moveable Fest
In "White Girl," you realize that in telling the story of a woman who may overestimate her own power in some respects, Wood, just one film in, is in full command of hers and the result is awesome.
Full Review | Nov 1, 2018
Morgan Rojas Cinemacy
Yes, with its overtly explicit nature this subject matter is bold and has won fans since its Sundance debut, but unfortunately, so many of the directorial choices seemed purely for shock and awe.
Full Review | Aug 6, 2018
Tricia Olszewski Washington City Paper
Saylor is alternately stiff and extraordinary here, not so great at playing the sober innocent but an ace at the blurry motions of someone who's extremely wasted.
Full Review | Jan 2, 2017
T'Cha Dunlevy Montreal Gazette
Loosely based on the director's own experience, Wood's viscerally charged film gets under the skin in ways that are hard to shake.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 1, 2016
Walker MacMurdo Willamette Week
When White Girl isn't dressing up as a morality play, it sharply confronts the social and political anxieties of the most idealistic generation in generations.
Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 12, 2016
Ray Pride Newcity
Despite errors made, the film's embrace of sexual agency is well, bracing. The memorable ending justifies nearly everything that came before. Contains graphic sex, degradation and sexual violence.
Full Review | Oct 12, 2016
Bill Zwecker Chicago Sun-Times
Frequently difficult to watch, White Girl is the powerful feature debut of a filmmaker with original vision and clear talent -- and a movie that proves a lead actress can possess the gift of transformative performance skills.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2016
Mark Dujsik Mark Reviews Movies
What comes through in White Girl is a generic cautionary tale...
Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 30, 2016
J. R. Jones Chicago Reader
Neatly plotted and minimally staged, the movie marks Wood as a talent to watch, but Saylor deserves equal credit for her layered performance as the title character, a confident young woman who crumbles into a confused and frightened child.
Full Review | Sep 29, 2016
Matthew Lickona San Diego Reader
First-time writer-director Elizabeth Wood's White Girl sets out to be a Great Gatsby for the 21st century - and perhaps in the process, to depict the orgastic future that Fitzgerald mentioned at the story's end.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 15, 2016
Josh Kupecki Austin Chronicle
The film has a restless, kinetic style that suits the drug-fueled mayhem.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 15, 2016
Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic
Harrowing to the point of being off-putting - but not quite.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 15, 2016
Robert Yaniz, Jr. We Got This Covered
Ostensibly a tragic tale of out-of-control youth, White Girl collapses under its lofty ambitions, boiling down to little more than a retread of other, better films.
Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 9, 2016