46
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 67The Film StageAlistair RyderThe Film StageAlistair RyderWhile the third act delivers the inevitable campy melodrama that’s the chief selling point, it’s the film leading up to it that proves most remarkable: a sincere throwback to a deeply uncool cinema seemingly unconcerned with the ridicule it’ll likely receive.
- 60The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeThe Irish TimesDonald ClarkeThe plot is rubbish. Nobody seems comfortable putting tongue anywhere near cheek. If the costumes were any more heightened you’d demand a song and dance number. All of which makes it hard to look anywhere else. But good? Probably not. Bad? Maybe not that either.
- 60The IndependentClarisse LoughreyThe IndependentClarisse LoughreyThere’s an odd timidity here that borders on self-denial.
- 50Screen DailyNikki BaughanScreen DailyNikki BaughanWhile a committed Chastain and Hathaway do their utmost to inject some gravitas into proceedings there are some moments which border on the absurd, particularly as it reaches its frenzied climax. Still, there is some fun to be found in the arch campness of it all and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the film looks gorgeous.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThe movie starts out very serious and shocking and concludes on a note of pure farce, though I have to say Chastain’s performance has a clenched restraint which is marginally more convincing than Hathaway’s operatic but callow displays of hurt and entitlement.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinUltimately, the characters’ motivations, like their titular instinct, are weakly delineated, but viewers are well-advised not to worry their pretty little heads about any of that and just concentrate on the pantsuits.