It stars Sidney Flanigan (in her acting debut), Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold, and Sharon Van Etten.
In April 2019, it was announced that Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold and Sharon Van Etten had joined the cast of the film, with Eliza Hittman directing from a screenplay she wrote.
The site's critical consensus reads, "Powerfully acted and directed, Never Rarely Sometimes Always reaffirms writer-director Eliza Hittman as a filmmaker of uncommon sensitivity and grace.
[8] Critics praised the film for its approach to visual storytelling and naturalistic acting, particularly its avoidance of polemic to focus on the lives of and the bond between its two lead characters.
Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "What makes Never Rarely Sometimes Always so forceful—and certainly the most searingly confrontational American drama about abortion rights in recent memory—is its quality of understatement, its determination to build its argument not didactically but cinematically.
"[17] Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote, "It's rare that the topic of abortion gets such an empathetic and holistic film treatment: passionate but unsentimental, principled without any predetermined moral.”[18] Chang concluded, "if the picture Hittman paints is stirringly bleak, it is not without its passages of tentative hope, even grace.
"[17] Karen Han of Polygon wrote, "The slow build-up—and Autumn and Skylar's stoicism through it all—makes it all the more affecting when the reasoning behind the film's title is revealed.
"[19] Naomi Fry of The New Yorker wrote, "In its profound sensitivity to everyday detail, Never Rarely Sometimes Always makes the viewer aware of the mundane challenges that dog every step its heroines manage to take along that path—from the large, cheap suitcase bumped along with difficulty on subway steps, to the dwindling-down-to-nothing funds in a secreted-away pouch, to the flutter-lidded, late-night dozes taken on the subway, in lieu of a place to stay, waiting out the hours.
"[20] Critic Mark Kermode gave the film a 5-star rating and wrote, "Perfectly pitched and sensitively played, this is truthful, powerful and profoundly moving fare from a film-maker at the very top of her game" and added the film "is perhaps best described as a perfectly observed portrait of female friendship; a coming-of-age story with road-movie inflections, piercingly honest and deeply affecting.
The Reporter wrote that while the COVID-19 pandemic affected the film's theatrical release, its artistic impact on independent cinema prevailed, its relevance and resonance still enduring even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v.
[23] In 2024, Looper ranked it number 15 on its list of the "50 Best PG-13 Movies of All Time," writing "The thoughtful camerawork lends insight to the quiet, complicated world of the film's lead character, with the emotionally immersive nature of the piece managing to make something as simple as hands touching into something that tugs at your soul.