Downtown Owl

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Downtown Owl

R

2023

1h 31m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

47%

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17 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Downtown Owl, based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman, is a Reagan-era dark comedy set in the fictional town of Owl, North Dakota, in the days leading up to the region's blizzard of the century. When Julia Rabia (Lily Rabe), a restless English teacher, moves to Owl from cosmopolitan Milwaukee, she throws herself into the lives of the locals. Despite being unsure whether she's attempting to escape from home, or desperately trying to find it, Julia begins to let loose and forges friendships and romances that blur the lines between appropriate and totally messed up. From Horace (Ed Harris), a retired farmer with a secret, to Vance (Henry Golding) a depressed, bison farming Romeo, to Mitch (August Rosenstein), a lovelorn backup quarterback, Julia becomes part of a community that's trying to invent its own happiness... even in the heart of a blizzard.

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Richard Roeper

Chicago Sun-Times

Apr 27, 2024

2/4

The filmmakers also fumble an absolutely cringe-y subplot about the football coach...

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Tomris Laffly

TheWrap

Jun 11, 2023

In one scene Rabe’s fish-out-of-water Julia cries out, “Wait! I’m confused.” Well, one couldn’t have put it any better about the totality of this movie.

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Kate Erbland

IndieWire

Jun 9, 2023

C+

Klosterman’s vision of this tiny, insulated world was never this neat and tidy, a lesson that has not translated to its cinematic companion. It’s a slice of life, surely.

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Andrea Beach

Common Sense Media

Aug 27, 2024

This delightfully quirky yet warm and gentle fish-out-of-water story has both real laughs and emotional depth.

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Stephen Silver

Splice Today

Apr 26, 2024

2/5

A not particularly strong adaptation of Chuck Klosterman's worst book

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Michelle Swope

Elements of Madness

Apr 24, 2024

3.5/5

Rabe and Linklater’s impressive directorial debut, Downtown Owl, makes the audience feel at home in the tiny town of Owl, North Dakota, and that’s pretty remarkable.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Sep 3, 2025

Funny in 1 hour and 31 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Daniel G

@DanielGodoyBsb Jan 18, 2025

Unusual movie which my wife just didn't really get into and found confusing, which I noticed some critics also did. Maybe for her there was too much Americana (like many mentions of football's impact on small town life). However I really got into this set of intertwined love stories in a very remote place, far from the US metropoles, where the question about the meaning of one's life becomes more poignant and what to do after the potential best moments have come and gone. I felt the actors really got into their characters and took their work quite seriously - though Vanessa Hudgens was a bit exaggerated in her vampy part. I missed getting some of the high school students' parents' point of view, but maybe it wasn't really absolutely necessary, just as it wasn't to show Julia Rabia's family and fiancé, just imagine them at the other end of the phone calls. Great 1980's alternative soundtrack, with Elvis Costello highlighting.

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Hamish Linklater

Director

Lily Rabe

Director

Vanessa Hudgens

Naomi

Henry Golding

Vance Druid

Lily Rabe

Julia Rabia

Jack Dylan Grazer

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Synopsis

Downtown Owl, based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman, is a Reagan-era dark comedy set in the fictional town of Owl, North Dakota, in the days leading up to the region's blizzard of the century. When Julia Rabia (Lily Rabe), a restless English teacher, moves to Owl from cosmopolitan Milwaukee, she throws herself into the lives of the locals. Despite being unsure whether she's attempting to escape from home, or desperately trying to find it, Julia begins to let loose and forges friendships and romances that blur the lines between appropriate and totally messed up. From Horace (Ed Harris), a retired farmer with a secret, to Vance (Henry Golding) a depressed, bison farming Romeo, to Mitch (August Rosenstein), a lovelorn backup quarterback, Julia becomes part of a community that's trying to invent its own happiness... even in the heart of a blizzard.

Director: Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe
Producer: Bettina Barrow, Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Rebecca Green
Screenwriter: Hamish Linklater
Production Co: LSG Productions , Kill Claudio Productions, Three Point Capital, Lucky 13 Productions, Esme Grace Media/COIL
Rating: R (Sexual References|Language|Some Drug Use)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Runtime: 1h 31m

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