Brick Lane
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 20, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Tells a story we think we already know, but we're wrong: It has new things to say within an old formula. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Beautifully acted and written so its themes are touched upon glancingly rather than with full force. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A sensitive and occasionally poetic film, Brick Lane is an absorbing tale of personal empowerment and emotional growth. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The characters in Brick Lane must define themselves and determine where "home" is before they can move forward, and that dramatic conflict lies at the heart of this motion picture. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
A slow-moving but heartfelt film. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
While the film pivots around Nazneen, perhaps at the expense of other characters, it doesn't sell her short. This is a rich, revealing and elegant portrait, and one well worth spending time with. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie has a vibrant, sturdy pathos in the manner of Dickens. Read full review
70
VarietyRobert Koehler
Monica Ali's elegant and critically trumpeted debut novel, Brick Lane, about the travails, conflicting emotions and quiet liberation of a Muslim woman in London, is a far lesser thing in its bigscreen transformation. Read full review
70
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Absorbing enough, moving enough, and visually attractive enough to provide a perfectly acceptable night out at the movies. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Certainly touching, even heart-rending at times, and it mostly steers clear of the didacticism and sentimentality its subject matter often invites. But it never takes the full measure of its modest heroine, and makes her world a bit too small. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A thoughtful and often evocative drama of identity and assimilation, but she leaves Nazneen so cocooned in her protective shell of disconnection that we can't connect emotionally. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Like many things about Brick Lane, this story is dealt with in too cursory and pat a fashion. The film's heart can't be faulted, but its head is working in a regrettably low gear. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Taken for what it is, Brick Lane is something entirely its own. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Restrained and decorous to a fault. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Easily, the best character in the film is Nazneen's tubby husband, who's been angling to take the family back to Bangladesh. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The arc of Nazneen's character, from drudge to feminist heroine, is predictably saintly. Chanu is a far more intriguingly human figure, the redeemed fool. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Well-acted and grounded in reality, Brick Lane is never overly emotional, even when it deals with the days after 9/11. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Brick Lane comes far too late to be groundbreaking, and tries to do too much to be fully coherent, but its talent for avoiding obvious choices on all fronts, narratively and stylistically, make it worth a look. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
One of those feminist cries in the dark in which the heroine, a saintly sufferer, is more admirable than interesting. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJan Stuart
Brick Lane has been whittled down from Monica Ali's expansive 2003 novel into a glossy but overly efficient drama that, like Nazneen's husband, is ultimately too ineffectual to make much of a dent. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
Wraps a sari around the kind of suffering-housewife picture that became a cliché 30 years ago. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
For most of the movie, we feel as trapped as she does, and the lurching narrative seems anything but novelistic. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Has beautiful scenery and some enjoyable moments but leaves the viewer feeling the need to find the book to get the rest of the story. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
The movie is notable for its perceptive take on issues facing immigrants, and atmospherically photographed by Robbie Ryan (Red Road), but its flat, static quality belies the novel's richness. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Even as Brick Lane manages to sidestep one formula, it falls prey to another. Read full review
More From This Movie

61 Critic Reviews

5.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL