Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: July 22, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireJude DryJul 25, 2016
"Absolutely Fabulous” captures the irreverent fun of the series using an appropriately absurd plot device and does not read like a tired excuse to put the characters back in a room together. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRebecca KeeganJul 21, 2016
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is a raucously funny, often endearing, subversively feminist, bloody good time. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJul 21, 2016
The charms of the leading ladies are hard to resist, as are their rare moments of clarity and self-awareness. Saunders is a tumbledown hoot while Lumley can generate a laugh with simply a deadpan stare, yet both seem a tad more human this time around. Just a tad. Read full review
80
Village VoiceApril WolfeJul 19, 2016
The art of physical comedy is alive and well with Saunders and Lumley, who precisely calculate each well-timed tumble. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comNick AllenJul 22, 2016
It's more fulfilling to the soul than appetite, but the indulgence — if not the brief escape — is an inestimable perk. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Odessa Paloma ParkerJul 21, 2016
Finding deep meaning and satisfaction from this story will be difficult, but if it’s style over substance you’re after, then you’ll revel in the comedic chic. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 21, 2016
A scathing satire of conspicuous consumption and a fashion-obsessed culture, Absolutely Fabulous - The Movie hits most of its targets and twists the knife but, as funny as the material sometimes is, the flimsy narrative and threadbare caricatures encounter difficulties trying to sustain a 90 minute motion picture. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJul 21, 2016
On the whole, it’s a pitch-perfect love letter to “Ab Fab” devotees. As for newcomers? My advice: See it after a couple of Stolis, darling, and you’ll be just fine. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJul 20, 2016
Overall Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is as shallow as a puddle of Dom Pérignon spilled on the bow of a luxury yacht. That’s the joke, you see. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerJul 20, 2016
This is a very silly film, but one that will keep you laughing — or at least loudly chuckling — from start to finish. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJul 14, 2016
Ultimately though, it’s all secondary to Saunders and Lumley’s riotous chemistry together. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinJul 7, 2016
Stuffed to its statement earrings with celebrities, fashion folk and comedian chums making cameos, this breezy blast of bawdy jokes and Bollinger product placement should lift spirits in a post-Brexit Britain. Read full review
70
VarietyGuy LodgeJul 7, 2016
Sometimes bloody good fun is enough. It’s as good a reason as any for making this sunny, silly rallying cry for irresponsibility, and a better one still for watching it. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJun 30, 2016
Amidst an orgy of cameos and spiked with more than a few stinging gags, the further travails of Patsy and Edina as they battle irrelevancy is bright, light entertainment, even though it never quite makes a convincing case for itself cinematically. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 22, 2016
Saunders and Lumley are all about keeping the party going. So grab your Bolly, darlings, and party on. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoJul 21, 2016
It’s comedy with a hint of honesty — but we’re fine with shallow and sparkly, dahling. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 18, 2016
The jokes are broad and narrow as ever. It’s a very inside-baseball riff on fashion and fashionistas and always has been. As the cameos fly by — Jon Hamm to Sadie Frost, Stella McCartney to Jean-Paul Gaultier — you might miss the funniest and most obvious joke of all. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJul 7, 2016
Absolutely Fabulous works best consumed bite-sized; there’s not enough here to warrant a full-length movie. Too much feels like padding. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 21, 2016
Serviceably, at times awkwardly, directed by Mandie Fletcher, the movie skews softer than the series at its barbed best, partly because the celebrity culture that once provided such rich material has become just another ratings opportunity for the Kardashians. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe DziemianowiczJul 20, 2016
As a full-length film this fashion industry over-the-top farce about two hot messes behaving badly — and boozily — is both too much and too little. Read full review
60
CineVueLucy PopescuJul 7, 2016
It's all raucous, good natured fun and the laughs come thick and fast. Read full review
60
Total FilmKate StablesJul 4, 2016
It’s Carry On Up The Catwalk with TV’s favourite fashionistas. The perfect girl’s night out for the Mamma Mia crowd. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 30, 2016
While you can’t imagine the film ever making it to Cannes under anything other than its own steam, the jaunt proves to be a surprisingly worthwhile one. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraJun 30, 2016
It's scatty, scrappy and thoroughly OTT, but then that's like the characters themselves. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 30, 2016
Reasonably good fun. Read full review
58
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodJul 21, 2016
For all the film’s faults, Saunders and Lumley still bring an addictive energy to the screen that finds you wanting more. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJul 21, 2016
Like so many small-screen-to-big-screen efforts, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie isn’t really a movie, just a stretched-out TV episode with a parade of cameos and boatloads of Champagne. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 21, 2016
The whole thing feels a bit desperate. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephanie MerryJul 21, 2016
The movie turns what was once antic into something closer to manic. With a throwaway plot and a parade of weird characters, the comedy tries to be bigger, bolder and more outrageous than the television series, but it ends up being a lot less funny. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEric HendersonJul 20, 2016
There's something to be said for a summer movie that offers up Chris Colfer as an unapologetic misogynist hairdresser. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJul 20, 2016
If the movie isn’t so fabulous, should die-hard fans who can quote the show by heart see it? Absolutely. (The gays are sure to love it.) Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyJul 22, 2016
It’s as if the film is taking after its own heroines: aspiring to something bigger than it should, and too often looking awkward in the process. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJul 18, 2016
To transform a TV series into a film is to surround yourself with pitfalls, and “Absolutely Fabulous,” sad to report, nosedives into every one of them. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJul 21, 2016
Jokes don’t pay off at all or take so long to do so that they lose their snap. Read full review
20
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJul 22, 2016
The problem is that there's nothing of substance to hold together those occasionally fun moments of often-grotesque absurdity. Read full review
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