Restless
Reception

Restless (2011)

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External reception

6.9
5 platform(s) · 7 ratings 27,996 votes
7.3/10 8,727 votes Synced 2026-08-08
6.7/10 18,794 votes Synced 2026-08-20
Audience 7.1/10 33 votes Synced 2026-07-19
Critics 4.7/10 Synced 2026-07-19
Audience 4.8/10 Synced 2026-07-18
Critics 3.6/10 Synced 2026-07-18
6.5/10 442 votes Synced 2026-08-19

External reviews

Joe Williams · St. Louis Post-Dispatch 63.00/100.00

If you haven't seen a wasting disease in real life, you might think Restless is romantic. If you have, you might diagnose it as terminally cute.

synced 2026-07-19
Mike Scott · New Orleans Times-Picayune 63.00/100.00

As clearly calculated and self-consciously cutesy as it is, it's also tender and meaningful stuff -- and far more watchable than other recent attempts to capture the existential angst of adolescence. ("The Art of Getting By.")

synced 2026-07-19
Roger Moore · Orlando Sentinel 75.00/100.00

Restless is far more precious than profound. But that takes little away from this soulful teenage exploration of love, life and death.

synced 2026-07-19
Roger Ebert · Chicago Sun-Times 75.00/100.00

All of the performances are pitched correctly. Nobody pushes too hard. Nobody underlines anything. Perhaps calmed by Van Sant, the characters seem peaceful, not troubled (as they should be).

synced 2026-07-19
James Berardinelli · ReelViews 75.00/100.00

An emotionally rewarding experience: strong performances from leads Henry Hooper and Mia Wasikowska and a tender love story conveyed with genuine feeling.

synced 2026-07-19
Claudia Puig · USA Today 63.00/100.00

Restless is a self-consciously quirky coming-of-age tale that's essentially a teenage hipster "Love Story."

synced 2026-07-19
Peter Travers · Rolling Stone 63.00/100.00

Wasikowska, from "Alice in Wonderland" to "Jane Eyre," is an actress of translucent expressiveness. And Hopper has his father's brooding intensity and a quicksilver humor all his own. They are both so good, I suggest you dive into the story unfolding in their eyes rather than the banal one in the script.

synced 2026-07-19
Pete Hammond · Boxoffice Magazine 60.00/100.00

If "Harold and Maude" hadn't already gotten there 40 years ago, this quirky but engaging trifle might seem refreshingly original.

synced 2026-07-19
Joshua Rothkopf · Time Out 60.00/100.00

Gus Van Sant directs his players just shy of mush; he's a filmmaker capable of brilliant dares (Milk, Paranoid Park) and shocking whiffs (Finding Forrester, the pointless remake of Psycho). This one's kind of in the middle.

synced 2026-07-19
Stephanie Zacharek · Movieline 70.00/100.00

The picture is so fluttering and tender, so guileless, that you almost can't believe it was made by an old hand like Van Sant. Then again, maybe you can.

synced 2026-07-19

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