Barry
Netflix | Release Date: December 16, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
MTV NewsAmy NicholsonDec 18, 2016
Barry's questions are powerful whether asked by a future president or a future janitor. The script is great no matter who it's about — it's just that fewer curiosity-seekers would give it a watch were it about someone else. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 15, 2016
The movie’s lived-in realism puts Barry on the ground, rather than in the air, where he experiences the usual coming-of-age agonies and joys. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 15, 2016
In some ways, Barry the film takes its personality from Barry himself. Always pleasant and companionable but a little pro forma in its early going, it gains in texture and interest as Obama's life and his reaction to it get more complex. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 15, 2016
The movie is rich on its own as a character piece about the difficulties of being bi-racial, especially at the very specific location of Columbia University. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 13, 2016
You could almost watch Barry even if you’d never heard of Barack Obama: The movie is simply interested in what it looks like when a guy who’s got this much going for him has a piece missing. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 13, 2016
Barry emerges as an involving and credible portrait of a smart young man with a good deal of growing and learning yet to do. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 18, 2016
In some truly inspired casting choices, Ashley Judd provides emotional depth as Barack’s mother, and Jason Mitchell (who deserved an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Easy-E in “Straight Outta Compton”) and Ellar Coltrane (who literally grew up onscreen in “Boyhood”) deliver stellar work as friends of Barry’s who remind of us of the multiple worlds he inhabits. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Dec 14, 2016
Barry doesn’t so much offer glimmers of the man Obama would become as lay experiential groundwork for his later life choices. Read full review
75
The Film StageJordan RuimySep 18, 2016
Whereas the aforementioned Southside With You was a calm, romantic watch, this is a serious and refined drama which has the feel of a political firecracker. Read full review
75
The PlaylistNoel MurraySep 13, 2016
There’s something widely relatable about the way Barry tries to find somewhere to fit in, and preferably in a place where he can be himself and not somebody else’s symbol. Read full review
70
SalonMelanie McFarlandDec 15, 2016
Gandhi’s direction brings out superior performances in the film’s cast, particularly in Terrell, whose imitation of Obama’s singular ways of speaking and mannerisms is nearly flawless. Read full review
70
TheWrapRobert AbeleDec 15, 2016
It hasn’t always been easy trying to figure out what’s going through the mind of the 44th president of the United States, but Barry is a satisfyingly curious, honest attempt to make his inner struggle a beautiful part of this groundbreaking statesman’s biography. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 13, 2016
Barry loses its way when it reduces itself to a tacky diorama of its protagonist’s inner turmoil, and it does so frequently enough to dismantle any sense of narrative momentum. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comNick AllenDec 16, 2016
Devon Terrell's performance as Barry is warming, always leading with empathy and a genuine smile, contemplative whenever not sharing his thoughts. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 13, 2016
In presenting its story as a portrait of a budding great statesman discovering his destiny, Barry is neither insightful nor poetic enough to justify its increasingly didactic approach. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonDec 18, 2016
[Barry's] search for an identity is the ignition and combustion of the film. The exhaust, however, comes courtesy of Philip Morris. And the odor, like that surrounding the film itself, is of provocation in service of no cogent point. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandDec 15, 2016
The writing, by Adam Mansbach, and direction, by Vikram Gandhi, are competent without being terribly sophisticated or daring. Terrell’s performance elevates the film, though. Read full review
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