The Hottest State

Name: The Hottest State
Director: Ethan Hawke
Released: 2006

Synopsis

A young actor from Texas tries to make it in New York while struggling in his relationship with a beautiful singer/songwriter.

75
ReelViews
Hawke has made this movie his way and the result is a story that is by turns romantic and disquieting. It's well worth the price of admission.
75
New York Post
Could be an overwrought mess if it were in less capable hands. But Webber and Moreno are so good, it's hard to believe they're not really deeply and meaningfully in lust.
67
Christian Science Monitor
At times this indie is as repetitive and self-indulgent as its protagonist, but it captures a bit of the madness of being unrequitedly in love.
60
Village Voice
Hawke quite capably taps into the bittersweet complexities of young, love-struck idiocy.
50
Variety
Patchy lead perfs and mannered helming subtract value from pic's tangible plus points (solid supporting turns, pleasant score).
50
TV Guide Magazine
Actor-turned-filmmaker Ethan Hawke's second feature, an adaptation of his own novel about youthful heartbreak, is hobbled by its singularly unappealing lead characters.
50
New York Daily News
Hawke, who is very good as the young man's estranged father, had best stick to what he does best.
50
The New York Times
At around the halfway point, its characters’ haranguing voices begin to grate on you. People in their early 20s, even pretty people, lose their appeal when they dwell this obsessively on their own inchoate turmoil.