Metacritic reviews

Short Term 12 is a roller coaster of every emotion, managing to be both heartwarming and heartrending at once.

Taking its time to let the world take shape, Short Term 12 builds to an involving series of mini-climaxes without tidying up every loose end.

It's a delicate yet passionate creation, modest in scope but almost overwhelming in its emotional intricacy, ambition, and resonance. Easily one of the best films so far this year, it's a nearly perfect blend of pimple-faced naturalism, righteous moral fury, nuanced social insight, and unsentimental but devastating drama.

Brie Larson, as the caring but tormented Grace (who's pregnant and doesn't know if she has the faith to have her baby), and John Gallagher Jr., as her gentle-dweeb fellow worker Mason (who fears his love can't save her), show you what emotionally naked acting is all about.

A genuinely moving look at life in a group foster home that avoids most of the usual routes into viewers' hearts.

This compelling human drama finds fresh energy in the inspirational-teacher genre, constantly revealing new layers to its characters.

[Brie Larson's] performance is something of a quiet revelation, and in turn, the same could be said of the film itself.

Short Term 12 isn’t without drawbacks, occasionally dipping into a too-neat narrative tidiness and a self-conscious sloppiness. Yet the film’s charms and ability to cut through jadedness despite the subject matter makes it a rarity — a modest indie that’s feels like it’s in it for the long haul.

It doesn’t happen all at once, nor does the film imply that coming to terms with one’s past is any kind of panacea. Grace’s problems are long term, but, like her adolescent charges, one has the sense she’ll get by.

There's tremendous dramatic value to the aching and sometimes devastating scenes that home in on these kids' private torments.