Critics reviews

[Sunny Dancer] comes across like a warmed-over feature episode of TV’s roistering teen drama, Skins, albeit with the spectre of death hanging over the heads of the majority of the cast. Much of it means well, but very little actually lands in an impactful way.

this teens-with-cancer dramedy has an irresistible whiff of authenticity... Sunny Dancer is neither as bleak nor as mawkish as you might fear... Ramsey is the standout, tapping an honest vein in every scene... This is an actor who can sell almost anything.

Likeable but predictable... Sunny Dancer’s chief asset is its young cast, who convince as snarky, horny teens thanks to their feral energy and naturalistic banter... Less assured is the film around them.

Sunny Dancer succeeds as a hammy, sentimental, but ultimately dark comedy.

Given how much of the movie is just a straightforward summer coming-of-age story, “Sunny Dancer” might work better as a concept on paper than a movie onscreen. But there’s still no denying that... Jaques has made a bleak subgenre of cinema a little bit sunnier.

Sunny Dancer is one of the best coming-of-age films I've seen in a while – a near perfect summer camp comedy that is as unique and refreshing as it is funny and endearing.

[Sunny Dancer] is admirably unflinching in its exploration of the psychological fallout of illness. And while it sometimes loses itself to flights of melodramatic adolescent fantasy, it confidently wraps its heavy themes in a peppy, accessible package.

[Jaques] is a unique talent with something to say... “Sunny Dancer” is an excellent comedy starring Bella Ramsey, backed by a fantastic, witty cast of young performers and a few veterans. This is a gem of a film that should be sought out by all.

Decidedly uneven but fitfully charming... While the bits of the script that were obviously drafted in advance are kind of cringe thanks to high doses of emotional glucose, the easily spotted interludes where the young cast, all of them fast-ascending talents, were allowed to let rip, cut loose and improvise their pretty little hearts out cut the sweetness and create needed teenage texture.

Though maybe sometimes a bit too euphoric in its positivity, and unrealistic about the life-changing experiences to be had at a camp like this or any other, [Sunny Dancer is] big-hearted, well acted, topped off with an amusing star cameo