Blackbird
Screen Media Films | Release Date: September 18, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinOct 8, 2019
If Blackbird shows us anything it’s that no matter how carefully we plan, life resists perfection, right up to the end. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshSep 17, 2020
Blackbird is a simple tale, well-told, but it’s also the tale of all tales, of life, death and everything in between. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 16, 2020
The material can get awfully sudsy and we can see a couple of the big reveals coming two scenes in advance, but on balance this is a well-written, moving story bolstered by an outstanding cast. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 8, 2019
"Blackbird" may be a tearjerker, but it’s also a reminder that there’s more to tears than tragedy, even in the midst of personal loss. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAndy HowellSep 13, 2019
Even though you can see the strings in the puppet act, the plight of the characters still sometimes manages to get to you. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveySep 8, 2019
Thanks to Michell and a fine cast, it works admirably well — at least to a point, at which some viewers may feel [screenwriter Christian] Torpe piles on one crisis too many. Read full review
67
Original-CinThom ErnstSep 21, 2020
The film can be over-wrought, manipulative, and by some standards, unfairly stages death as a backdrop for parading a rogue-gallery of family archetypes. And though I recognize the film’s flaws, I choose to let my cynicism slide. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 17, 2020
The last 15 minutes are frankly devastating — catharsis, thy name is ugly-cry! — but it all feels a little manipulative and thinly told in the end; Nancy Meyers reset in the key of tragedy. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJason BaileySep 8, 2019
The picture’s biggest flaw is that it’s so mellow it occasionally veers into inertia. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 16, 2020
Director Roger Michell (“Venus,”Notting Hill”) cast this well and earns stellar on-the-nose performances from Sarandon, Wilson, Duncan and Wasikowska. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearOct 8, 2020
There are too many splendid little touches in this tale of letting go to dismiss it entirely, and too many latebreaking wrong turns it takes to completely forgive it. What you’re left with is the cinematic equivalent of a clipped-wing plummet. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comNell MinowSep 18, 2020
The entire story takes place in and around a spectacular house with curiously sterile interiors that are more like the setting of a magazine ad for expensive liquor than a home real people live in. The bigger problem is that the world of the characters is not fully inhabited either. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 16, 2020
In short, although Blackbird is effective as a buzz-kill and features a few nicely choreographed scenes, too little about the film feels like real life and who wants a fantasy film that’s such a relentless downer? Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerSep 15, 2020
With its quasi-literary tone and over-calculated concessions to the messiness of real life, the movie settles for coming across like a clumsy amalgamation of the wonderful Amy Bloom short story “Love Is Not A Pie” and the 1998 Sarandon tearjerker "Stepmom." The hollow, unsatisfying feeling the movie leaves behind may be the most authentically funereal thing about it. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 8, 2019
It’s less of a film and more of an actors’ workshop, an exercise for everyone involved but meaningless to us. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 8, 2019
But as lovely as Blackbird can be, it’s never particularly insightful or compelling — for a film meant to celebrate life, the storytelling is curiously moribund. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 17, 2020
The characters are so flimsy, and so wearyingly familiar . . . that Michell is incapable of giving their conflicts life. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinSep 8, 2019
There almost isn't a single shot in it where every member of the cast isn't Acting ... The result is, at times, insufferably pleased with itself. Read full review
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