Albert Nobbs
Roadside Attractions | Release Date: December 21, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
17
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 27, 2012
Rodrigo Garcia's film only intermittently surmounts the limitations of the central character's parched emotional existence and restricted horizons, and the resolutions to some principal dramatic lines seem rather too easy. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoJan 27, 2012
Repression is one thing, but discontent generally breeds self-knowledge and rich interior lives, two things that are eerily absent here. Regardless, the film features some really intriguing conflicts and solid performances throughout. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 26, 2012
Close's performance is a study in repression -- too much so, really. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensJan 27, 2012
Albert Nobbs is the rare double drag king bill you could plausibly take your grandmother to. It's genteel, well-crafted, mostly sexless and frequently dull - a movie that, like its title character, never quite dares to let itself discover what it really wants to be. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 26, 2012
Though the movie drips and aches with good intentions, I do wonder how lesbians may feel about seeing lesbianism presented as a mere traumatized distortion of female heterosexuality. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesJan 26, 2012
Though Istvan Szabo (Being Julia) was slated to direct at one point, the assignment ultimately went to Rodrigo Garcia, who's known for his female ensemble dramas (Nine Lives, Mother and Child) but demonstrates no particular affinity for this material. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovJan 25, 2012
Albert Nobbs is the furthest thing from a comedy, although as a character study of cultural mores and stations and the lengths human beings will go to to circumvent them, it's fascinating stuff. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 25, 2012
Close's performance is technically perfect and emotionally pinched, which is exactly what her role calls for, but it doesn't make a compelling movie. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedJan 24, 2012
A middling attempt to peek through a lace curtain for a glimpse of the other Upstairs/Downstairs staff members only leads to too many distracting social functions that fail to relieve the film's otherwise solemn pacing. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 23, 2012
The performance is extraordinary, literally: Close resembles no man I've ever seen, or woman either. She's the personification of fear - the fear of being seen through, seen for what she is. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 22, 2011
It's a career-crowning role for Glenn Close. Too bad the film is such a drag. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayDec 20, 2011
Say this for Albert Nobbs: It's not some run-of-the-mill "life lived in service" drama. Read full review
40
Total FilmMatt MuellerApr 16, 2012
Good performances, but it's difficult to give two hoots about Close's passion project when the story remains as pinched and hermetic as poor little Albert Nobbs himself. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneJan 30, 2012
Imagine a different film on a similar theme, with Hubert moved to center stage and García replaced by Pedro Almodóvar, for whom cross-dressers in a Catholic country would be meat and drink. Poor Albert could then retreat into the shadows, where he so evidently belongs, emerging only to pour the wine and clear away the feast. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 22, 2011
When the filmmakers move into Nobbs' isolation, though, the movie flags - a surprise given Garcia's excellent work on HBO's minimalist personality study "In Treatment," on which he wrote and directed extensively. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 21, 2011
Close and McTeer, an evenly matched odd-couple pairing, keep it real. They do the heavy lifting, and are utterly enchanting, whether in bonnets or boots. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichDec 20, 2011
The unintentional hilarity of the whole enterprise - especially when Albert attempts to romance one of the hotel's naive employees (Wasikowska) - at least keeps you engaged, as does the scene-by-scene suspense over which pitiably wide-eyed expression Close will choose to use next. Hopefully, she's practicing her gracious-loser face for awards season. Read full review
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