64
Metascore
32 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyOffers lush and compelling drama drawn from Evelyn Waugh's beloved novel. Purists may blanch at the screenplay's changes to the source material's narrative fine points, but its spirit survives intact.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThere are times when Brideshead Revisited shows its seams. For those with an affinity for this kind of movie - and you know whether this applies to you - Brideshead Revisited is a worthy, although not superior, motion picture.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe one performer who seems at home with the gravity of it all is Emma Thompson.
- 75Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyPhiladelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyThe film is plush and passionate and graced with elegant performances. Best is that of Emma Thompson as Brideshead's matriarch, Lady Marchmain, who resembles a cross between Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict.
- 70NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenThe remarkable thing about Jarrold's movie is how much of the book it manages to capture.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceThough I can imagine Waugh rolling his eyes at the very idea of Brideshead Revisited as "a heartbreaking romantic epic," this remake is, often inadvertently, closer to the novel's spirit than the sepulchral television series, albeit still not half as waggishly Waugh-ish as "Bright Young Things," Stephen Fry's delightfully naughty interpretation of "Vile Bodies."
- 70Washington PostMichael O'SullivanWashington PostMichael O'SullivanThe real question is whether the film moves the "Brideshead" ball down the playing field in any meaningful way since the acclaimed miniseries. And I'd have to say that it doesn't so much advance it as it shrinks it into a golf-ball-size nugget.
- 70NPRBob MondelloNPRBob MondelloThis is a world of dinner jackets and evening gowns, casual jaunts to Venice and Morocco; it's about elegance, style, money and perhaps too heady a mix of drink, religion and intrigue.
- 63Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsThe new film seems a little nervous about the religious content; it's more interested in the swoony bits between Charles and Julia.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenThe Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenAlthough it has its involving moments, the watered-down Waugh fails to make any kind of lasting connection.