Palo Alto

R

Released May 9, 2014

1 hr. 37 min.

Drama

List

70%

129 Reviews

Tomatometer

49%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A lack of parental guidance encourages teens in an affluent California town to rebel with substance abuse and casual sex.

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Critics Consensus

A promising debut for director Gia Coppola, Palo Alto compensates for its drifting plot with solid performances and beautiful cinematography.

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Korbin V

WATCH SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD. No likable characters. No likable actions by any characters. Boring. No redeeming social value. You will wish you had done something else. Anything else. You have been warned.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/17/23

Full Review

John A

The mostly naturalistic performances combined with the compelling coming-of-age and slice of life ingredients make for a relatively absorbing and economic feature. It appears Gia Coppola already has the strides of an auteur director.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/13/23

Full Review

Lieze Q

It rlly good y'all need a reality check this changed something in me when I was 14

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/22/23

Full Review

paul s

There was something off about this whole thing. It felt like there was a lot of wasted talent in a very mediocre story. I didn't like the unbelievable way that people acted and behaved in this. The closest thing to true life was James Franco trying to hook up with an underage girl. I frankly thought that Franco hooking up with the underage girl was the most interesting aspect of this movie(because of his real life downfall). I would not watch this again.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

its art. people tend to claim its unsatisfactory or has no plot. no sh@t Sherlock that's the idea. you aren't meant to know the plot. you get what you see and that's life. it encloses this concept and truth of never really feeling satisfied or obtaining every aspect to everyones perspective, but rather overall brief insight on their lives equally showing how fu(ked up they are. like life, you never know the full story or full truth about anything, isn't that what unanswered questions mean? and plus if they had a narrative it j would've portrayed abilities of moving through unreliability.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The plot is pointless and James Franco is creepy af. Luckily my life is pointless too so this was not a total waste of time.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

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Gia Coppola

Director

James Franco

Actor

Emma Roberts

Actor

Nat Wolff

Actor

Zoe Levin

Actor

Claudia Levy

Actor

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Candice Frederick

Reel Talk Online

While all the young actors are committed to their characters (though none of them particularly stand out), this film will likely drown in its own nothingness as far more thought-provoking teenage fare continues to prevail.

Rated: C

Sep 2, 2017

Full Review

Laurence Phelan

Independent (UK)

The drama is scaled to just the right size: kids get into trouble or inadvisable situations, but there are no major melodramatics. We see them in their natural habitat.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 24, 2014

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

Another week, another glacial outing from the ever-expanding Coppola clan depicting the oh so beautiful emptiness of American teenage wildlife.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 19, 2014

Full Review

Justin Micallef

Vague Visages

There's a pulsating heartbeat of an autobiographical nature within Palo Alto.

Feb 6, 2024

Full Review

Q.V. Hough

Vague Visages

I connected a lot more with Gia Coppola’s feature debut than I did with Boyhood. Palo Alto features a group of up-and-comers and captures the essence of youth without forcing it on the viewer.

Jun 23, 2023

Full Review

Robert Sims

Lights Camera Austin

Based on a collection of interconnected short stories that James Franco published in 2010, director Gia Coppola's high-school drama presents two portraits in teen angst that owe more to the worldview of Bret Easton Ellis than John Hughes.

Jan 22, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

A lack of parental guidance encourages teens in an affluent California town to rebel with substance abuse and casual sex.

Director: Gia Coppola
Screenwriter: Gia Coppola
Distributor: Tribeca Film
Production Co: American Zoetrope, RabbitBandini Productions
Rating: R (Drug and Alcohol Use|All Involving Teens|Pervasive Language|Strong Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 9, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $750.1K

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