52
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinHeidi Thomas’s screenplay, cannily expanding a little on Bennett’s glisteningly witty original script, shows its hand with tactical finesse.
- 70TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleWhile Thomas and Eyre slip occasionally into feel-good vibes, they ultimately leave intact his narrative’s essential anger about the bureaucratic threat to community health care.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThis watchable, undemanding drama rolls along capably, enlivened by unmistakably Bennettian gags and drolleries which come along every minute or so.
- 50The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodPerhaps it worked better as a theatrical endeavor, but the result is a film that feels like a collection of familiar hospital set storylines thrown together without a true compelling throughline.
- 50VarietyGuy LodgeVarietyGuy LodgeIt didactically calls out governmental hypocrisy while exposing corrupt elements and inefficiencies within the precious institution itself. It hedges its bets politically between nostalgic keening for a kinder, fairer Britain of old and advocating for a top-down socialist makeover. It wavers tonally between cozy comedy and head-on polemic.
- 50New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNew York PostJohnny OleksinskiThere’s nothing wrong with some silver screen sorrow, but not when it amounts to indecisive mush.
- 40Time OutPhil de SemlyenTime OutPhil de SemlyenThis take on Alan Bennett’s pre-pandemic play, a love letter to the NHS set on a geriatric ward in Wakefield’s beloved-but-threatened Bethlehem Hospital (‘The Beth’), ticks along amiably enough for an hour or so. Then, like a hand grenade in a tombola, a harrowing third-act twist detonates beneath it and narrative and tonal destruction ensues.