Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

54% Tomatometer 117 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 100,000+ Ratings

Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, "Girl, Interrupted" is the searing true story of Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), a young woman who finds herself at a renowned mental institution for troubled young women, where she must choose between the world of people who belong on the inside -- like the seductive and dangerous Lisa (Angelina Jolie) -- or the often difficult world of reality on the outside.

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Critics Consensus

Angelina Jolie gives an intense performance, but overall Girl, Interrupted suffers from thin, predictable plotting that fails to capture the power of its source material.

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Critics Reviews

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Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Candice Frederick Reel Talk Online It's an interesting story, based on actual events. Rated: A Sep 12, 2017 Full Review Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Charlotte O'Sullivan Time Out Does it matter that every time Jolie's offscreen the film wilts a little? Ryder should be perfect as the bright spark; her lines are sharp as a knife. There's a gap, however, between what we hear and what we see. Jun 24, 2006 Full Review Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Peter Stack San Francisco Chronicle A muddled production that misses the jarring tone of the autobiographical book by Susanna Kaysen on which it is based. The film is entertaining, but not very powerful. Rated: 2/4 Jun 18, 2002 Full Review Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Mike Massie Gone With The Twins As a picture that wishes to examine different characters in a specific environment (and during a brief period) rather than telling a precisely structured story, the pacing is a touch slow, though the character development is excellent. Rated: 6/10 Nov 8, 2024 Full Review Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Michael Cuby them. In our modern political climate, I can't think of a better narrative to revisit. Sep 28, 2022 Full Review Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Grant Watson Fiction Machine Girl, Interrupted is well-performed but hollow - and ultimately unsatisfying. Rated: 5/10 Oct 28, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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David F I wanted to watch this film because its title intrigued me. On the face of it it makes no sense, so I wanted to understand when people used the title, or made reference to the film in conversation.The film stars a lovely, shorn Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, (not yet famous). The girls are inmates in an American mental institution, which is exactly the same as most mental institutions in films, especially those (for some reason) run by nuns. Whoopi Goldberg is also present as a nurse, but she's just present. She is a good actress, but sleepwalks through this film. Ryder does better, but Jolie steals the show, her character is really the person the film should be about.The film's treatment of mental illness is not in any sense enlightening, we could be watching Boris Karloff in Asylum or Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. We are told Ryder's character's diagnosis, but she does not exhibit much of anything throughout the film. When one of the patients hangs herself, we don't care, because the character has not been built in a way that makes us interested in her.Worth a watch, mainly for the three lead actresses, but ultimately unmoving. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/23/24 Full Review Marcelo oliveira c Esse filme, apesar de ser confuso e previsível, tem atuações intensas! Com performances impecáveis como a as de Brittany Murphy e Angelina Jolie, que vivem intensamente o personagem. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/30/24 Full Review Kirill M Яссификация «Пролетая над гнездом кукушки». Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/05/24 Full Review Fabrícia F A imersão nessa experiência vista sob a perspectiva de pacientes de uma instituição psiquiátrica é muito interessante. Personagens com dramas pessoais que refletem a realidade. Vale a pena assistir. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review Ben D The “mental institution” is a natural setting for incubating strong performances, for, by default, it offers a range of emotions, idiosyncrasies, power imbalances, and unreliable characters. Susanna (Winona Ryder) is stuck (of her own accord) in one such institution after a suicide attempt. She’s from a privileged background, but isn’t going full Patty Hearst or anything and just wants a future different from that of her mother. In the institution, Susanna meets and befriends women with all sorts of afflictions, including, but not limited to, pathological lying, sexual trauma, self-harm, schizophrenia, sociopathy, laxative addiction, bipolar disorder, et al. While the parallels to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are obvious, this is a much different movie when it comes to the conflict. Here, Susanna flirts with rebellion against the institution — typically anthropomorphized through Nurse Owens (Whoopi Goldberg) — but is really engaged in an eternal battle over the influences of a fellow patient, Lisa (Angelina Jolie). Everyone already knows Jolie’s performance steals the show, and while I’d seen Girl, Interrupted already (probably 15 years ago or so), I had no recollection of how good she truly is in this movie. A lesser performance could’ve made the story delve into stereotype after stereotype shepherded by the big girl on campus. But instead, Jolie plays Lisa as a menacing, charismatic leader. Someone who the women want to admire from a distance, only complying with her demands for adventure when they have sufficiently fallen under her spell. Lisa is a bully. Lisa is a villain. Lisa is the reason you watch this movie, despite the excellent ensemble cast. It seems like every other scene the women are breaking curfew, journeying to abandoned wings of the institution, and even breaking out with zero resistance at will. While Claymoore may be the least secure mental institution in American history, its porous walls permit our characters to drift, explore, and follow their leader. RT (53/84) is shocking. I’m with the audience on this one. Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/18/24 Full Review Sams K Underrated af! Perfect acting and a very well-done screenplay. A very important work about mental illness and life inside asylums and mentally illness structures. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/06/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

James Mangold Director Winona Ryder Susanna Kaysen Angelina Jolie Lisa Clea Duvall Georgina Brittany Murphy Daisy Elisabeth Moss Polly
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Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Drugs and Chicken Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Drugs and Chicken 2:55 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Where's Jamie? Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Where's Jamie? 2:36 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Downtown Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Downtown 2:02 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Ice Cream and Crazy People Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Ice Cream and Crazy People 3:05 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - The End of the World Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - The End of the World 3:25 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - You're Already Dead Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - You're Already Dead 3:04 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Borderline Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Borderline 2:13 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - My Father Loves Me Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - My Father Loves Me 2:39 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Playing the Villain Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Playing the Villain 2:46 Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Ambivalent Girl, Interrupted: Official Clip - Ambivalent 3:05 View more videos

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Girl, Interrupted

Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen in "Girl, Interrupted." Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen in "Girl, Interrupted." (L-R) Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen and Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted." (L-R) Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe and Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen in "Girl, Interrupted." (L-R) Clea Duvall as Georgina Tuskin, Angela Bettis as Janet Webber and Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted." On the set of "Girl, Interrupted." On the set of "Girl, Interrupted." Angelina Jolie as Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted." Girl, Interrupted (1999) Girl, Interrupted (1999) View more photos

Synopsis Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, "Girl, Interrupted" is the searing true story of Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder), a young woman who finds herself at a renowned mental institution for troubled young women, where she must choose between the world of people who belong on the inside -- like the seductive and dangerous Lisa (Angelina Jolie) -- or the often difficult world of reality on the outside.

Director
James Mangold

Producer
Cathy Konrad, Douglas Wick

Screenwriter
Susanna Kaysen, James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan

Distributor
Columbia Pictures

Production Co
Columbia Pictures, Red Wagon Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment

Rating
R (Sexuality|Drug Use|Strong Language)

Genre
Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 14, 2000, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012

Runtime
2h 7m

Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby Digital, DTS, SDDS

Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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Girl, Interrupted | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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