Blithe Spirit
IFC Films | Release Date: February 19, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
8
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 20, 2021
It’s the cinematic equivalent of day-old champagne: the taste is almost there, but the bubbles disappeared long ago. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeFeb 16, 2021
Hall has taken away the brittle wit of Coward’s source material and replaced it with little other than some fun performances in search of a better movie. Read full review
42
The PlaylistAsher LubertoMar 16, 2021
The whole thing is a wildly uneven, extremely repetitive mess that could have used a few rewrites, as well as another look at the genial, genre-bending source material. Read full review
42
The Film StageJared MobarakFeb 18, 2021
It’s absolutely exhausting. Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiFeb 25, 2021
It’s fraught with frenetic energy and delightfully charming performances, but Blithe Spirit is not as funny or absurd as it sets out to be. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshFeb 18, 2021
Any trenchant observations to be found in this Blithe Spirit only pop and fizz into thin air like Champagne bubbles. Though effervescent, it’s a bit too ethereal for its own good. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJan 17, 2021
The impish Leslie Mann is well cast as his dead wife, Elvira, who provides a jolt of creative inspiration. Judi Dench’s screechy caricature of psychic Madame Arcati is less winning. Read full review
40
EmpirePamela HutchinsonJan 14, 2021
This  Blithe Spirit dilutes the original’s heady cocktail, serving up a sugary punch rather than a dry martini. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 23, 2021
Stevens mugs, Fisher vamps and Mann and Dench do their damnedest. But you can’t improve on Coward, and there’s no re-animating this corpse. Read full review
30
TimeStephanie ZacharekFeb 19, 2021
Studied and overworked, this Blithe Spirit trips over its own ectoplasmic feet. Somewhere, Coward is scowling. Read full review
30
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisFeb 18, 2021
Surplus buffoonery and a new ending add nothing to the original, leaving us with a movie that obsesses over death while showing all too few signs of life. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfFeb 17, 2021
Completely miscast with uninspired production, this remodeling of Blithe Spirit is a faint shadow of its Coward roots, a resurrected retired poltergeist without its same purpose or vigor. Read full review
30
Screen DailyWendy IdeJan 14, 2021
Coward’s brand of urbane casual elitism is rather past its sell-by date. But the problems run deeper in this energetic but scattershot version of a property which might have been best left to rest in peace. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 25, 2021
Stevens, Fisher, Mann and Dench are all fine. All have good moments. The problem is the script, the script, the script. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyFeb 19, 2021
Edward Hall’s new adaptation of Noël Coward’s play Blithe Spirit is so aggressively un-funny it might make audiences unfamiliar with the script's successful track record wonder why it was ever a success in the first place. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiFeb 18, 2021
The source material explodes with wit, but this hackneyed screenplay has swapped the crackling repartee for bargain-bin joke book lines delivered at a snail’s pace. Read full review
20
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 14, 2021
A tin-eared, lumpen-footed, almost perversely unfunny new spin on Noël Coward’s breezy 1940s farce. Read full review
20
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 14, 2021
Despite the heavyweight cast, the film’s production values are those of a kids’ TV show that might go out on a weekday afternoon. Read full review
20
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJan 14, 2021
The irresistible comic elegance of the premise – a remarried widower is tormented by the ghost of his first wife – is lost in a mass of pointless embellishments and tinkerings. Read full review
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