Speak

PG-13

2004

1 hr. 32 min.

Drama

List

80%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Freshman high-school student Melinda (Kristen Stewart) has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents (Elizabeth Perkins, D.B. Sweeney) too busy to notice her troubles, she folds into herself, trying to hide her secret: that star senior Andy (Eric Lively) raped her at the party. But Melinda does manage to find solace in her art class headed by Mr. Freeman (Steve Zahn).

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Aaron S

Kristen Stewart, even at 14 years old, is just an otherworldly talent. She so effectively shows emotion with her expressions, body language...even down to things like small eye twitches. Much like The Perks of Being Wallflower, Speak is a little like a parable. It can seem a little over the top with its archetypes and caricatures of high schoolers and the relationships between said high schoolers and their parents/teachers, but what these movies do so well is recall the FEELINGS of those moments and relationships. Speak is also special in that this all applies aside from the sexual assault story that hits extremely hard. What keeps Speak from being a more elevated and complete experience is some of its production value and the unevenness of its acting across its cast. However, none of that keeps this from being an underrated and very worthwhile movie whose needed message was before its time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/22/23

Full Review

Wyatt G

speak deserves so much more. this has been one of the best movies i have ever watched and i am so glad that films like this exist.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/01/23

Full Review

Juliet D

favourite movie ever

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/30/23

Full Review

Melanie M

I thought i saw every kristen stewart movie well i am so glad i across this one. it is so powerful and hit home i was never raped but had a trama and never healed until i spoke about it..... its odd how depression can hide in silence if you suffering at all talk and it goes away its that simple ... well sounds simple but its not it just means you care about others more than yourself and that is a wonderful treat to have .. some people only care about themselves and they die lonely and that's the ultimate punishment in life.... so be proud depression is a phase that can go away if you work really hard at it...

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/06/23

Full Review

Sarthak B

people be telling me, kristen stewart can't act this, kristen stewart can't act that, she's just that dumb girl obsessed over a vampire, they say she don't be putting in work and my honest reaction to these pieces of information is, SHUT THE FUCK UP. Y'ALL DON'T KNOW SHIT. I'm not hearing another Iota of shit after seeing this and Spencer because she's a goddamn queen. the basic storyline of this film goes about a young girl entering high-school and she has decided to not talk that much. she does say a few things here and there but those are just for the sake of replying and not for continuing a conversation. you can tell that something has happened to her and we uncover what has happened layer by layer. the event that has happened is obviously very traumatizing for her but she decides to keep it to herself which affects her studies and her relations with friends and family. the plot might sound like a typical teen angsty movie but it is nothing like that. it is actually one of the most mature explorations of trauma from the perspective of a young person who isn't ready to come to terms with what has happened and doesn't understand how to explain it to anyone. Kristen is really good in the film and her performance has some organic layers to it. she gets a lot of unnecessary hate for her performance in the twilight films. and although that is true, please move your perspective away from those films and take a look at her other films which are also quite good. Panic Room and Spencer are just some of the brilliant work she's done because it is performances like this that test an actor's ability to the limit. evoking the film's story without dialogue requires a good director and a good actor and that's exactly the case with this film. Rest of the actors don't have much screentime compared to her they all did a good job. her art teacher Mr. Freeman (Steve Zahn) and her friend David (Michael Angarano) are particular standouts because these are one of the few people she actually manages to connect with in the film. The one scene which I loved in particular was the day she decides to skip school and just randomly goes to a hospital and takes a bed and pretend to be a patient. At first you'd think that how does this scene manage to make any sense in the context of the whole film but you gradually realise that it is actually about how lost she really feels and is waiting to see if anyone even notices that she's not in fact a patient. Another scene which I loved was when she shows her secret hiding place in the school (a maintenance closet) to her art teacher just when he's about to leave the school forever. It is the perfect depiction of her feelings throughout the entire year come to life in the form of art and the teacher realises that she is actually really depressed. He doesn't force her to talk to him but acknowledges his presence if the need ever arises. that scene just melts my cold little heart. you might've seen similar films like this due to the emergence of people identifying several societal issues that teenagers (especially teenage girls) face and there have been many projects that have been made in recent years covering similar topics as of this film but, I don't think any of those cover said topic as maturely as this film does. I would really recommend checking this out if you haven't seen it because considering the time this film was made in, there weren't that many projects out there like this and it just makes me sad that this film didn't even have a theatrical release. It went straight to television and is now only available on streaming.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the best movie I ever seen! Beautiful message.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

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Jessica Sharzer

Director

Kristen Stewart

Melinda Sordino

Michael Angarano

Dave Petrakis

Robert John Burke

Mr. Neck

Eric Lively

Andy Evans

Leslie Lyles

Hairwoman

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Chris Stuckmann

ChrisStuckmann.com

A strikingly relevant and underseen slice-of-life drama with an award-worthy turn from Kristen Stewart.

May 26, 2020

Full Review

CJ Sheu

Review Film Review

The film's entirely commendable message is to believe women; I just wish I could believe the film.

Oct 5, 2021

Full Review

Barbara Shulgasser

Common Sense Media

High school rape, teen drinking in intense movie.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 15, 2016

Full Review

Oz

eFilmCritic.com

From start to finish, lead to co-stars, director to writers, this is a film experience that reminds you that it doesn't matter how many stars are around, or how much is spent.

Rated: 5/5

Mar 3, 2004

Full Review

Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

Rated: 3/5

Jan 20, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

Freshman high-school student Melinda (Kristen Stewart) has refused to speak ever since she called the cops on a popular summer party. With her old friends snubbing her for being a rat, and her parents (Elizabeth Perkins, D.B. Sweeney) too busy to notice her troubles, she folds into herself, trying to hide her secret: that star senior Andy (Eric Lively) raped her at the party. But Melinda does manage to find solace in her art class headed by Mr. Freeman (Steve Zahn).

Director: Jessica Sharzer
Executive Producer: Jerry Offsay
Screenwriter: Jessica Sharzer, Annie Young Frisbie
Production Co: Speak Film Inc.
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016

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