Aardvark

Cobbled together using clichés and contrivances, Brian Shoaf's feature debut perceives mental illness more as a personality quirk than a sickness and treats it almost as a kind of magical realism.

Aardvark doesn't know how to do what it wants to do. It's not that the tone is uneven or uncertain, it's that the film doesn't have a tone at all.

Despite a strong lead cast and good intentions, "Aardvark" is a drag.

"Aardvark," while it has its moments, never lives up to the potential the cast would suggest.

"Aardvark" appears to be about coping with mental illness and the toll it takes on families, and another filmmaker might have had something of consequence to say about both.

Meandering in message or plot, the film proves to be not just incoherent but excruciatingly boring ...

Zachary Quinto as the amiable, aimless and psychologically-troubled Josh who deals with hallucinations in a small town America and Jenny Slate as his new therapist Emily are begging for better material to work with.

This movie is monotonous. [Full Review in Spanish]

Aardvark is not without some merit. The actors all do credible jobs in their underwritten roles, and the directing style suits the dramatic nature of the story. But the awkward, stiff writing and lack of characterization make all that effort pointless.

A clichéd indie movie starring three actors who are always welcome on screen, but fails to adequately use any of them

It's hard to get me to dislike anything with Jenny Slate in it, but writer/director Brian Shoaf has pulled it off with stunning efficiency.

Three thoughtful performances and a couple of intriguing interactions, but it is ultimately undermined by an underwritten script. The parts are greater than the whole.