58
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAvoids obvious sentiment and predictable emotion and shows this woman somehow holding it together year after year, entering goofy contests that for her family mean life and death.
- 80VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerEven more than in "Far From Heaven," Moore's housebound wife is a study in pent-up brilliance, with extraordinary devotion to her family.
- 75USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigAn engaging film bolstered by the stellar performance of Julianne Moore.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenA spirited comic drama, toplined by Moore's lovely performance.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenGently, affectionately and with wit, this lovely movie gives the 1950's its due, but not for a moment does it go overboard and make you want to go back there.
- 50Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonShameless Eisenhower-era corn.
- 50The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsMoore's scenes with a miscast-but-game Harrelson offer a study in how spouses learn to handle even their partners' most destructive impulses, but in most other moments, Anderson fails to get beyond the surface of her characters' lives.
- 50Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneNo one expects documentary realism in these memoir-to-movie transfers. It's reasonable, however, to expect more vibrant and expressive fictionalized treatment than this.
- 42Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumAnderson's adaptation is heavy on production numbers in which jingles come to life and light on conveying any real feelings of Eisenhower-era darkness the prizewinner herself might have felt during her decades of marriage to an abusive, drunken man.
- 40L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyThere's something terminally small about this big-screen melodrama, with its trite characterizations of fighting parents, empty pockets and kind hearts.