Winter Passing

R

2005

1 hr. 38 min.

Drama

List

40%

52 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Tired of struggling to be an actress, Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) leaves New York and returns to her Michigan home. She has a cash advance from a book editor who wants to publish the love letters of Reese's parents. Reese has a strained relationship with her dad, a washed-up novelist, but she enters the household he shares with an ex-student and a shy friend who takes care of domestic matters.

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Critics Consensus

This dour coming-of-age story has nothing to distinguish it from similarly themed indie fare.

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Michael B

Dull, glacial, and deeply self-indulgent. Why drown a kitten? Because this movie sucks.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/05/24

Full Review

Kat C

Animal cruelty in the first 20 minutes that's absolutely worthless and pointless. It's also BS because she could just have the vet put the cat down instead of drowning it. I definitely wasn't expecting a movie with Will Farrell and Zoe D. to start out so horrendous

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

12/10/23

Full Review

Ranee M

Horrible character played by Zoey Deschanel. Kills a kitten by putting it in a backpack and throwing it in the river. Not even going to finish it.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/22/23

Full Review

Ravenswood R

It wasn't that bad. Kind of boring at times. Zooey Deschanel is very good I think. People are all upset about the cat - but it shows where she is at mentally, and that in leaving New York she is kind of giving up and accepting fate, which can be a very cruel and death-like thing that happens to a person, hence the cruelty of the scene. It bothered me, too, but I accepted it as the culmination of very hard and harmfully dissolute times for the character. Ed Harris is great but there is not much to his character. Other supporting cast is good. It is an insular and somewhat confining little film, but interesting and moody. The end flips a switch that I don't think should have been touched, but OK, not my choice.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The first third of the movie was detailed and promising. It introduced interesting characters within the NYC theater scene as well. But then it was like a different writer took over the whole script and suddenly we are in Detroit in some mash up of David Auburn's play Proof....Will Fargo is playing guitar and why?? And absolutely nothing gets resolved about anyone, but I guess the father has something to live for in the end because he is writing a novel called Golf?

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

steve d

It is a bit slow at times but when it gets going it is sweet and interesting. Even Will Ferrell was watchable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Adam Rapp

Director

Ed Harris

Don Holden

Zooey Deschanel

Reese Holden

Will Ferrell

Corbit

Amelia Warner

Shelly

Amy Madigan

Lori Lansky

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Allison Benedikt

Chicago Tribune

Midway through, Rapp loses momentum, failing to hone in on just what kind of movie he wants to make, and Winter Passing languishes in that no-man's land between tiny, meandering, indie drama and plotted, pointed family melodrama.

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 11, 2006

Full Review

Walter V. Addiego

San Francisco Chronicle

This flawed drama about a self-destructive young actress and her reclusive novelist father has its rewards, mainly in some good performances.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 10, 2006

Full Review

Ty Burr

Boston Globe

There are intriguing actors and ideas here, but only occasionally do they combine with convincing force.

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 10, 2006

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Although tediously slow at points, Winter Passing has a purveyingly powerful familial dynamic from start to finish.

Nov 6, 2019

Full Review

Christopher Campbell

Cinematical

While Deschanel is the reason to see Winter Passing, her support is nearly impeccable in keeping it from being a one-woman show.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 17, 2007

Full Review

Doris Toumarkine

Film Journal International

A cold, hard work inhabited by tortured or incidental characters who embody an interior journey that is neither entertaining nor cathartic.

Mar 1, 2007

Full Review

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Synopsis

Tired of struggling to be an actress, Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) leaves New York and returns to her Michigan home. She has a cash advance from a book editor who wants to publish the love letters of Reese's parents. Reese has a strained relationship with her dad, a washed-up novelist, but she enters the household he shares with an ex-student and a shy friend who takes care of domestic matters.

Director: Adam Rapp
Executive Producer: Mark Gordon, Bob Yari
Screenwriter: Adam Rapp
Production Co: Stratus Film Co., Mint Pictures
Rating: R (Some Drug Use|Sexuality|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Feb 17, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $106.6K

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