46
Metascore
38 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeFor about three-quarters of the running time, Rebecca does a respectable job of navigating between respect for the source and establishing its own distinct identity. And then, at precisely the moment where it stands to make a few enlightened improvements . . . this Rolls-Royce of an adaptation veers off the road.
- 58IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichDespite its title, this Rebecca is decidedly modeled after the second Mrs. de Winter instead of the first. Soapy where Hitchcock’s interpretation was stiff, the film is beautiful and hurried and eager to be liked by everyone in a way that will only lead to trouble. It dutifully respects Manderley’s past, while at the same time revitalizing that drafty mausoleum with an Instagram-ready sheen.
- 58The PlaylistBeatrice LoayzaThe PlaylistBeatrice LoayzaWheatley plays it safe, and throws star power and sumptuous imagery our way as reason enough for his pale, uninventive iteration of the classic gothic horror. It goes down easy enough thanks to Lily James and the already-delicious plot, but Wheatley’s imitation fumbles when it matters most.
- 55TheWrapAlonso DuraldeTheWrapAlonso DuraldeThis new Rebecca has its own sense of style, and it’s not above fully embracing the pulpy delights of du Maurier’s book, but unlike the unnamed second Mrs. de Winter, it can’t quite break free of the inevitable expectations placed upon it.
- 50Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSlant MagazineChris BarsantiThe film is a pretty bauble of a thing that ticks off the story’s shock revelations in an efficient, if not particularly surprising, fashion.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyEarlier films like Sightseers and Free Fire suggested Ben Wheatley might have the mordant wit to tackle a work forever associated with sardonic genre maestro Alfred Hitchcock. But in place of atmosphere and suspense, he delivers blandly glossy melodrama.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawRebecca 2.0 is sometimes quite enjoyable in all its silliness and campiness and brassiness, and in some ways, gets closer to the narrative shape of the original novel than the Hitchcock film, which rather truncated the third act.
- 40Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangThe filmmakers seem curiously at sea over the purpose of their assignment, possessing neither the patience to plunge headlong into the story’s familiar depths nor the radicalism to reinvent it entirely.
- 38Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsThe pretty, empty, emotionally frictionless and touch-free new Rebecca adaptation may suit the pandemic dictates for social distancing, but the drama fails to spark.