Boundaries
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 22, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 16, 2018
Boundaries, to be sure, delivers you to a place you know you’re going, but there should always be room for a movie that does that this well. Read full review
75
Original-CinKim HughesJul 5, 2018
Despite committed performances all around, Boundaries stays firmly rooted in the meh. Much as we want to root for Laura, her constant whining about her unhappy childhood wins no empathy and drags things down. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnMar 16, 2018
Boundaries breaks no fresh ground and sags into conventional story beats on autopilot, but it’s rewarding enough to hang with these characters and roll with their mudslinging. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJul 11, 2018
Boundaries would be a lot more charming if it was anything remotely an organic story instead of being glued to a template. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 22, 2018
It’s another one of those films, like “Book Club,” in which the cast far outshines the material. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 21, 2018
It all bumps along, as road trips do, through silliness and boredom and occasional, unexpected charm. But Feste’s story never really gets the rhythms right, and Boundaries finally reaches the end of the road, feeling like nothing so much as a missed opportunity. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 27, 2018
Plummer is particularly good, delivering every line of dialogue as if it’s improvised, and with an astringent snort that only partially hides the fact that Jack really does care about people. Farmiga, for her part, never strays into histrionics, although she comes close after allowing herself to be seduced by her caddish ex. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJun 22, 2018
Boundaries ends the way most road trips do — by running out of gas. But being in the presence of Plummer these days is always time well spent. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 23, 2018
The dialogue and performances are far more interesting than the lazy, cliche-ridden story Feste cooked up. Read full review
60
Village VoiceApril WolfeJun 28, 2018
Where Feste best succeeds in Boundaries isn’t in the father-daughter relationship, which finds her straining for a tight resolution, but in the mother-son one, where the two actors vibe easily and persuasively off each other. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJun 28, 2018
Just when you're ready to throw in the towel, Plummer does something that keeps you going; maybe it's the quietly affecting way Jack turns up the twinkly charm as age and illness are starting to take things away. Then there's Farmiga's ability to mine a laugh out of angst and yet remain human, and MacDougall's sly, sleepy charm. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJul 5, 2018
Plummer and Farmiga seem like a potential dream team, but the pairing instantly feels wrong – they don’t scan as father and daughter, and Plummer’s continental bearing seems ill-suited to his character’s backstory. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJul 5, 2018
Filled with lovable eccentrics, Boundaries tries too hard to avoid the commonplace as its jolts erratically down the well-travelled, heavily signposted route that is the big-hearted road-movie. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJul 5, 2018
Perhaps it’s time for a moratorium on road movies. Despite its strenuous efforts to come across as quirky and original, Boundaries goes nowhere. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoJul 4, 2018
Character quirks know no limits in the indie dramedy Boundaries, a multi-generational road-trip movie that gives both Vera Farmiga and Christopher Plummer richly drawn roles to play. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 22, 2018
Boundaries is earnest in way that partly makes up for the overbroad characters and stale setup. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 21, 2018
Feste...has been known to elicit strong performances even from thuddingly obvious, maudlin material. But her attempts to establish an atmosphere of drab, low-key realism — evident in the dim lighting, wobbly framing and Laura’s penchant for rumpled plaid shirts — can scarcely conceal the essential phoniness of the material. Read full review
43
TheWrapRobert AbeleJun 19, 2018
So much of Boundaries coasts on hackneyed complications and characters’ self-defeating actions that one wonders why we should believe anything anybody says. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 21, 2018
Self-satisfied and too slick by half, Boundaries projects a sheen of artifice that deflects any genuine engagement with the story. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 16, 2018
A fantastic cast doing fine work can't make this feel-good hokum believable. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonJun 17, 2018
Christopher Plummer brings a twinkly eyed insouciance to his character, but there's only so many times Jack can make a joke about, say, his adult diapers before it becomes thin and hollow. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJun 19, 2018
It’s supposed to be evocative, but in many scenes the characters just look dim and overly backlit, to the point of obscuring the actors’ expressiveness. There might be another metaphor in there somewhere. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 27, 2018
Boundaries is a slog, a succession of weak and uninteresting incidents, leading to a conclusion that seems foreordained. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJun 26, 2018
A first-rate cast enriches the otherwise dismal Boundaries, a misguided combination road movie and domestic comedy-drama that otherwise qualifies as a box office also-ran. Read full review
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