Catherine Called Birdy
Amazon Studios | Release Date: September 23, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshSep 27, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy is Dunham’s best writing and directing work yet; it’s an easy breezy, emotional good time, and an instant teen classic. Read full review
100
The PlaylistJason BaileySep 11, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy is delightfully witty, irrelevant, and modern-minded while carefully dodging the self-satisfaction and smugness that those descriptors can conjure up. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubMark KeizerSep 20, 2022
Dunham has taken her oft-articulated concerns about women’s empowerment and self-determination and transported them to 13th-century England in Catherine Called Birdy, a charming, clever, and altogether delicious comeback film that redefines Dunham in a way that just recently seemed unlikely. Read full review
91
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 11, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy is so good, so raucous and wild and wise and witty, that it not only makes me eager to write in alliterative adjectives, but to reconsider my views on everything else she’s made in recent years. It’s wonderful. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicKiMi RobinsonSep 23, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy is a reminder to let our spirits be free, never settle and keep loved ones close. Read full review
90
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonSep 22, 2022
Dunham prevails in convincing audiences that coming-of-age in a so-called simpler time was equally tumultuous, and crams the corners of her movie with images of other female characters discreetly seizing their own moments of satisfaction — glimpses of joys which realize that it’s in the margins of a medieval tale where the best stuff happens. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJourdain SearlesSep 11, 2022
The real star of the show is Dunham, whose sharp dialogue and direction equips every actor with an acidic tongue and knowing gaze. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 11, 2022
The movie wouldn’t have worked half as well had Dunham not discovered Ramsey, a “Game of Thrones” veteran soon to be seen in HBO’s “The Last of Us.” The young actor has a face one might find in a medieval Madonna portrait and a rowdy contemporary sensibility that makes her instantly relatable. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrSep 21, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy is an unabashed delight for everyone. It just might run a little deeper for a certain age group. Read full review
83
Original-CinThom ErnstOct 7, 2022
Those living in Birdy’s fictional universe see her as an irascible (albeit endearing) nuisance, but in movie language, Birdy is a feminist out of time, and time is the device Dunham tinkers with most. Dunham faithfully recreates the era and then infuses it with an alt-mix soundtrack, presumably as a way of drawing the politics of then into the politics of now. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 23, 2022
A sly fairytale about a medieval tween that manages to be both cheeky and modern without losing its heart. Read full review
80
PolygonPetrana RadulovicSep 26, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy is the rare book-to-film adaptation that makes some huge changes for the better. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeSep 26, 2022
Whis is a teen comedy with a refreshingly forthright approach to everything from puberty to the status of 13th-century women as chattels to be bartered. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackSep 23, 2022
There is a sincerity here that is unafraid of itself and – in what is most certainly a love letter to the beguiling and tumultuous affair that is girlhood – Catherine Called Birdy feels unique and special in a way that speaks directly to Birdy and other uncontainable girls like her. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 23, 2022
Dunham’s film has the kind of winning light touch that’s impossible to fluke. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithSep 23, 2022
Birdy is refreshingly complicated: She’s obnoxious but lovable, entitled but sweet Read full review
80
The GuardianAdrian HortonSep 14, 2022
In Dunham’s hands, the throughline of enduring and discovering one’s worth, however historically imagined, is at once a comfort and a lark. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreSep 11, 2022
It doesn’t water down her voice. Instead, the self-lacerating, self-consumed filmmaker seems liberated by the act of adaptation, as though tempering her distinctive creative impulses gives her rein to make a movie that’s tender and more broadly crowd-pleasing, while still very much her own. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 21, 2022
Following Cushman’s epistolary structure, Catherine Called Birdy unfolds as a series of diary entries, narrated in a self-satisfied tone that grates over time. Still, Dunham keeps the action brisk and the humor quotient high, as Birdy foils a succession of suitors, often by way of slapstick high jinks and general over-the-top japery. Read full review
75
ObserverEmily ZemlerSep 21, 2022
Her recent film Sharp Stick was classic Dunham, with a focus on sex and drama in a way that didn’t connect with all viewers. This one, intended for a family-friendly audience, connects far more broadly. It welcomes everyone, even those unfamiliar with the novel, into its delightful, funny world. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiSep 13, 2022
Dunham has made a really attractive and cohesive film, merging her modern, punky sensibilities with the dirt-and-stone drear of the time period. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearSep 26, 2022
So much of what makes Catherine Called Birdy sing comes down to Dunham and Ramsey working in conjunction to give you a portrait of a 13th-century teenager woman that feels thoroughly modern without being winky-nudgey, spiky and tender, oddly family-friendly while still being defiant. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganSep 23, 2022
If Catherine Called Birdy falters at any point, it’s during the film’s conclusion. Read full review
67
ColliderArezou AminOct 5, 2022
What truly saves this film from its own baffling choices and makes it watchable are the performances. Scott, Piper, and Alwyn all turn in compelling performances, but it is the titular "little bird" that steals the show. As the rebellious, headstrong Catherine, Ramsey is an infectious delight who infuses every scene she's in with an energy that is both comedic and earnest in its bluntness. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneySep 26, 2022
Ramsey is close to a force of nature, equally skilled at conveying Birdy’s curiosity, humor, orneriness, and not-infrequent bewilderment. In other words, she’s a 14-year-old. Read full review
60
Time OutTrevor JohnstonSep 26, 2022
Occasionally flummoxed by the scale of the period canvas, [Dunham] slathers too many somewhat shapeless scenes in Carter Burwell’s incessantly cheery a capella score, and gets stuck in a plodding pace that makes the movie seem longer than it actually is. The flaws though, don’t stop us getting caught up in Catherine’s world, and it’s refreshing to encounter a medieval story which eschews savagery for a humane generosity sure to spur many useful parent-child conversations. Read full review
60
EmpireBeth WebbSep 23, 2022
Sidestep the somewhat over-egged stylistic touches and you’ll find a fun coming-of-age tale boasting three irresistible performances from Bella Ramsey, Billie Piper and Andrew Scott. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreySep 22, 2022
Birdy, in many ways, is basically a pint-sized Hannah Horvath, Dunham’s onscreen alter-ego and the de facto lead of Girls. Both wrestle with the insecurities that stem from never quite aligning with traditional expectations of femininity. Both refuse to ever consider that the blessings and burdens they carry may not be universally shared among their acquaintances. Read full review
60
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiSep 13, 2022
Bolstered by a headstrong performance from Ramsey (who is best known as Lyanna Mormont from Game of Thrones), alongside a fantastic supporting cast, Catherine Called Birdy will be best enjoyed by a younger audience, though it’s still fun enough for viewers of all ages. Read full review
58
The Film StageEthan VestbySep 14, 2022
A safe film for a rebellious protagonist, even if still maintaining a warm, humanistic quality makes it not a total loss. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesSep 12, 2022
There is surely an audience for this kind of feel-good quote-un-quote feminism. But a book of such richness, with a heroine as complex as Birdy, deserves much more than this genial Renn Faire romp. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 11, 2022
Neither a broad farce nor a scathing evisceration of sexism (both then and now), Catherine Called Birdy ends up trapped in a dissatisfying middle ground between those two extremes, a tonal decision that results in only mild laughs and somewhat engaging characters. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanSep 11, 2022
Catherine Called Birdy only shows that dropping Dunham’s sensibility down into the Middle Ages results in a viewpoint that is suffocatingly small and unenlightening. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineWes GreeneSep 19, 2022
In simplistic and self-congratulatory fashion, the film renders its main character as a sort of feminist crusader who undermines the sexist traditions of her time. Read full review
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