44
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanChurchill is a small, watchable, rather prosaic backroom docudrama.
- 58The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakAs directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, the film carries with it a theatrical style heavy on dialogue with everything portrayed in close-up besides some very attractive wide shots setting each scene.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonThe Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonAustralian director Jonathan Teplitzky has fashioned a small-scale chamber drama from huge historical events, with a functional script and modest budget that fails to match the grand sweep of its story.
- 50Village VoiceChuck WilsonVillage VoiceChuck WilsonCox’s delivery of Churchill’s “We will fight on the beaches” D-Day speech surely ranks among the best, but it’s a problem when a narrative feature’s most powerful scenes are drawn from historical text.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleCox does a better than average job — almost everybody bombs when playing Churchill — capturing the leader’s seriousness of purpose and the weight of his responsibility. He gives us Churchill’s irascibility, but he doesn’t convey Churchill’s twinkle, his charm or his wit.
- 50Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThe film simplifies Winston Churchill's legacy for the dubious purposes of narrative momentum and emotional lift.
- 42The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyThe result is monotonous, its only memorable image being the salacious wink of Cox’s open fly, mid-frame during a shot of Churchill getting out a car. (Presumably this was the best take.)
- 40TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleThere’s a glimmer of a better movie in Richardson’s and Cox’s scenes, which suggest a thorny marriage that barely survived its low points, but it’s inevitably undercut by Teplitsky’s fondness for slo-mo memorializing, music overuse, and a simplistic pace that wants to brush away all the negativity with a well-timed come-to-Jesus moment, and a rousing radio speech.
- 38Boston GlobeTy BurrBoston GlobeTy BurrUnfortunately, Churchill the movie is simply dreadful, a stiff, melodramatic “Great Man” travesty that gets both the larger history and the details wrong while encouraging its star’s most overwrought excesses. What Cox serves in this movie is ham, poorly sliced.