The New York Times
- Recommended
"......Mr. Soderbergh brings a past master's skill to the beginning of his and Mr. Burns's maiden outing on the New York stage. We're scared, we're dazzled, we're hooked. And then the panic subsides... the audience stays well ahead of the script, not to mention the police detective investigating the crime at its center ¦ stars the compulsively watchable young film actress Chloë Grace Moretz... Unfortunately, the adult cast members have been given fewer layers to work with ¦ There's a more interesting, less schematic play lurking within The Library. Mr. Burns is brave in showing how disaster brings out the pettiness in people ¦ But The Library is most tantalizing in more seemingly incidental details ¦ an often too clearly mapped play."
Hollywood Reporter
- Somewhat Recommended
"......the whiff of a failed screenplay hangs in the air... With its lack of psychological complexity masked in self-importance, The Library trivializes the disturbing phenomenon... the dialogue veers toward trite melodrama... While Westfeldt and Tunie both dignify their scenes with more conviction than they merit, the main gravitas comes from Moretz... Soderbergh also does what he can to counter the banal writing, with a tightly directed production that maintains a tone of clinical chilliness. But the wobbly drama is finally undermined by its facile resolution."
Vulture
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The Library is the chicest high-school mass-murder drama yet... Burns frames the play as a police procedural with elements of social and family drama mixed in ¦ As long as it sticks to these elements the script is engaging and credible, or credible at one remove: TV credible ¦. But when Burns gasses up the larger themes that are clearly his interest here faith vs. science, accommodation vs. integrity he gets self-indulgent ¦ [Soderbergh] hammers the general idea of abstraction until the production goes numb... It's all very static and beautiful, especially David Lander's dim, saturated lighting ¦ The result, as Soderbergh must have intended, is like a wet blanket thrown over a fire, dousing emotion in favor of thought. It's an effect intensified by the small-bore indeed movielike underplaying of the cast. You can sense them doing excellent work, especially the enchanting Chloë Grace Moretz as Caitlin, and Jennifer Westfeldt and Michael O'Keefe as her parents. But most of that work seems to vaporize in the intellectual space between them and us..."
Variety
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The prodigiously talented Moretz commands the stage as Caitlin ¦ Jennifer Westfeldt is the other cast standout as Caitlin's distraught mother ¦ Lili Taylor's performance as Dawn Sheridan, the mother of one of the dead students and Caitlin's chief accuser, is painful to watch. Taylor does her best, but the character is a gargoyle ¦ Burns has done his play a disservice by narrowing the focus to a she said/she said smack down ¦ As strident and overbearing as it plays, this scenario would still make an impact as a single plot thread in a larger dramatic context. But the scribe seems unable to get beyond the cries for Caitlin's blood. .."
USA Today
- Recommended
"...The resulting drama is neither highly politicized nor especially revelatory... Burns seems less interested in stirring debate about the ready availability of guns or the root causes of senseless violence than in studying the impact of such events... Soderbergh's lean, stark staging... emphasizes the common and complex humanity that binds the characters... Lili Taylor delivers a standout performance as Joy's mom..."
New York Post
- Recommended
"...The Library isn't a great play, but as staged by Steven Soderbergh, it's a very good show. The prolific movie director may have little theater experience, but he sure knows how to create a chill. His frequent collaborator, writer Scott Z. Burns (Side Effects, Contagion ), is less assured here, though his rookie effort is an effective mix of drama and thriller ¦ aspects of The Library aren't as spot-on as that title a big plot contrivance tars an otherwise suspenseful confrontation toward the end. But overall Burns steers clear from both pathos and finger-pointing. Soderbergh's cold, clinical staging also counteracts the loaded subject ¦ Some may complain that The Library is too emotionally detached, but that's actually a strength: It's rare to see a show take a step back so the audience can think."
Entertainment Weekly
- Recommended
"......a modest but thought-provoking drama... As played with preternatural poise by the 17-year-old movie actress Chloë Grace Moretz (Hugo, Carrie) in her professional stage debut, Caitlin is a fascinating bundle of contradictory impulses shrouded in a hoodie. She's a knockout... Soderbergh's accomplished staging helps to mask the shortcomings of Burns' play..."
Newsday
- Recommended
"...The play has been directed with emotional clarity and an exquisitely discerning eye by Steven Soderbergh ¦ But the play, by his frequent screenwriter Scott Z. Burns dwells on the familiar questions ¦ But there is something wonderful in the center of the drama, and that is the radiant, delicately powerful talent of Chloë Grace Moretz... altogether believable and complicated as Caitlin ¦ For all the promising ideas ¦ the stories are pat and the ending tidy -- exactly what these real-life horrors are not."
Time Out New York
- Somewhat Recommended
"......underdeveloped... A collegiate effort, the play seems like the product of an all-nighter; as if he had run out of time... Film director Steven Soderbergh's gift for extracting natural performances from actors yields strong work on that front... But Soderbergh, who has little experience directing for the stage, floods the production with theatrical effects whose Robert Wilson "esque artifice does this small play no favors. The director and writer both have overstuffed their training bras."
The Wrap
- Recommended
"... ¦[Moretz's] fine performance, a stage debut, helps to keep us intrigued, if not always sympathetic ¦ Adding to the intrigue is the good girl's mother, played with gifted understatement by Lili Taylor ¦ Soderbergh's approach is minimal in a very flashy way. In contrast, he directs his actors as if the camera's eye has them caught in close-up for the play's entire 100 minutes. In addition to Moretz and Taylor, Michael O'Keefe gives a subtly nuanced performance as Caitlin's father ¦ Only Jennifer Westfeldt reaches for effects to turn in a mawkish portrayal of his estranged wife ¦ The power of The Library is such that, once the police report is issued, Burns tidies up his drama too quickly. Taylor's mother alone deserves at least another scene. What this woman is up to may be worth a whole other act."
Village Voice
- Recommended
"... ¦Steven Soderbergh and Scott Z. Burns's life-in-the-aftermath drama The Library perhaps pushes viewers to accept one thing too much: poise-blind casting ¦ In this slippery drama of truth and trauma, Moretz's striking Caitlin is preternaturally confident ¦ Burns's script honors the procedures of a crime's aftermath more than it does the emotions of the participants ¦ Of the adult performers, the redoubtable Taylor is the standout as a mother whose grief, agitated by showy religiosity, pearls up into a monstrous yet always calm self-righteousness. The show benefits from the sleek, antiseptic look Soderbergh has applied to much of his film work ¦ Soderbergh and lighting designer David Lander do exquisite work with silhouettes and spots, the latter of which seem to radiate up and out of the troubled souls onstage rather than from some guiding hand above."
Talkin Broadway
- Highly Recommended
"...[Burns's] writing is so compelling... [he] has created a haunting, beautiful play that speaks directly to our innermost instincts and fears, and never lets you out of its grasp... If Soderbergh makes a few miscalculations as far as the mechanics of the theatre... his work is by and large a collection of arresting choices that ideally suit the piece... Everyone, without exception, is superb... Though [Moretz has] been terrific in films, she's even better here..."
TheaterMania
- Recommended
"...Burns and Soderbergh (frequent screen collaborators) deftly unfold this story with a forensic attention to detail. It's an intelligent and quietly infuriating evening of theater... Soderbergh's greatest success is in cleanly presenting a story that is not so cut-and-dried. Thanks to an incredibly sympathetic performance by Moretz, you never leave Caitlin's side... You'll leave The Library angry for all the right reasons."
