Popular reviews

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  Review by Karsten ★★★★½ 22

  Embarrassingly relatable. And I know I say that a lot but this was...aggressive. The freshman roommate, the crying the second you get off the phone with your mom, the ******* ** **** **** **. I can’t pretend this doesn’t have it’s flaws, but I also can’t pretend this isn’t a direct reflection of who I was my freshman year of college. And to an extent, who I still am in a few ways. Which goes to show how well this film blends that immaturity with the traits you’ll hold on to way past that first year. 

  I feel like every film student thinks about making something like this. And a lot of them do make a film like this. And most of them make something that feels like a giant eye roll. But this did the damn thing and made it work. It really, really works.

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  Review by Jay ★★★½ 14

  shithouse by cooper raiff based on the life of cooper raiff starring cooper raiff directed by cooper raiff produced by cooper raiff in collaboration with cooper raiff and cooper raiff

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  Review by Muriel

  loneliness in a crowded place, longing for true friendships, talking to your stuffed animals, apologizing for being annoying over text and being like jenna from 13 going on 30... representation matters

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  Review by eely ★★★★ 4

  like, she made me feel like such a ʷᵉᶦʳᵈᵒ for asking to go get ᵇʳᵉᵃᵏᶠᵃˢᵗ ᵇᵘʳʳᶦᵗᵒˢ

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  Review by Laura ★★★★½ 17

  it's rare to see someone able to articulate the feeling of a particular period of their life with so much clarity, so closely following when they actually lived it. i feel like i'm still processing things that happened to me 10 years ago, still reckoning with who i was, as i get even further away from that person. i think it's why you see tons of coming of age films about high school or college made by people in their thirties & forties, and why they always feel slightly amiss — the memories are clouded & coming from a different version of those people.

  cooper raiff writes about his experience as a college freshman with so much sincerity, because it's as he…

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  Review by aliyah ★★★★ 2

  me every two seconds: wow, that was so embarrassing... relatable!

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  Review by Amanda the Jedi ★★★★

  When he starts liking all the instagram posts I wanted to curl up inside myself and die.

  Accurate college film!

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  Review by Lucy ★★★ 4

  when the sad boy said “and i really think you’re the best actor of all time” to dylan gelula... he was so right

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  Review by Laura ★★★★½ 8

  there’s one conversation between alex and maggie that’s always stuck out to me but i’ve never been able to articulate why... it’s when they’re about to run into the group playing softball and alex says he wants other people to help him form his identity & maggie says she thinks college is about learning about yourself apart from others. and immediately after that exchange they are invited to join the group, and alex tries to get out of it while maggie accepts without a second thought. it’s like they’re both naive to their own nature, or their natural instincts go against their words. i think what happens when you decide how you want to be is it becomes more of an…

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★ 2

  ***While the 2020 SXSW Film Festival has been canceled due to the coronavirus, IndieWire is covering select titles from this year’s edition.***

  It’s a shame that Cooper Raiff’s “Shithouse” didn’t get a chance to screen at this year’s SXSW, because this knowing and funny nano-budget debut is exactly the kind of film the Austin festival exists to showcase. And that’s all the more true because it sounds like such a potential nightmare on paper: Written, directed, and co-edited by its reluctant 22-year-old star with some help from his friends, Raiff’s vulnerable DIY gem tells a coming-of-age story about a mopey college freshman who’s struggling with the whiplash of leaving home.

  He meets a girl, they spend a magical night together,…

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  Review by Patrick Willems ★★★½ 3

  I was so ready to be bitter because a 23-year-old made this but I can't. It's too charming to be bitter about.

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  Review by Laura ★★★★½ 2

  few films leave me feeling this snug. really do love anything that leans into specifics – alex’s pause before “georgia? i’m from texas”, the drawings taped on the wall beside his bed, or maggie carrying around a wine bottle just to hold something with a weight to it. and then there’s the dumpster scene where alex says “that’s not trash, that’s recycled” and we get to witness maggie smirk a bit, while he misses the reaction. it all invokes something i never thought i would see on screen. something that is often danced around, but not quite pinned down. it’s electric to see it – this thing you’ve always felt. makes you wonder what you’re missing, or missed, when you had your head buried elsewhere.