Charlie Says
IFC Films | Release Date: May 10, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshMay 9, 2019
Charlie Says is a fascinating and feminist exploration of Manson’s first victims: the girls themselves. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisMay 9, 2019
It’s a tough, difficult story that, anchored by Guinevere Turner’s script, Harron recounts with lucid calm, compassion and intelligent interpretive license. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleStaff (Not credited)Aug 17, 2019
At its strongest, Charlie Says remembers that true justice is never easy, nor should it ever be. Its importance is in Harron asking those very questions, putting the audience in the uncomfortable position of contemplating at what point punishment is enough, and that gives Charlie Says true worth. Read full review
75
The Film StageAlycia RipleyMay 18, 2019
In Charlie Says, Mary Harron presents the in-between life, the seemingly banal details that orchestrated this perfect storm of destruction. By including diverse female reactions to Manson, we understand more about what happened and how, had circumstances been even slightly altered, it might never have occurred in the first place. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 8, 2018
As a portrait of bogus revolutionary rhetoric used to undermine and control women, it’s thoughtful and provocative. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeMay 8, 2019
For as much as Charlie Says tries to reframe everything we know about the Manson Family, its characterization of the women remains shallow. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsMay 10, 2019
Charlie Says loses much of its potency whenever it's not directly about the ordinary motives of the individual Manson clan members. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredLuke ParkerMay 15, 2019
Charlie Says may not reach deep enough into the horrors that birthed the Manson Family, but as an exhibit of pathetically prophetic garble used to dehumanize and control women, it’s attentive and provocative. Read full review
60
Rolling StoneDavid FearMay 11, 2019
If nothing else, Charlie Says puts Van Houten, and to a lesser extent her sisters in crime, in the center of their own story. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 8, 2018
This is an innovative, occasionally provocative, often frustrating film, but one whose perspectives on guilt and victimhood offer a new angle on a notorious case. Read full review
58
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonMay 9, 2019
Murray and Wever are as attuned to their roles as Smith is awkward and miscast in his. But perhaps that’s an appropriate fit for Harron and Turner’s divisive-yet-gripping take on this story: at the end of the day, the Manson women are deeper, more fascinating, and more worthy of exploration than the insecure man that connected them. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiMay 8, 2019
The film appears to be striving for humanistic understanding, but the end result is far too jumbled to have the proper impact. Read full review
50
VarietyJessica KiangSep 8, 2018
The film Harron delivers is so ambivalent as to be frustratingly gun-shy about truly asserting a point of view, or adding anything meaningful to the already thriving cottage industry of Manson-adjacent storytelling. Read full review
50
IndieWireMichael NordineSep 8, 2018
If nothing else, Charlie Says succeeds in demystifying the man with a pentagram carved into his skull: He may be society’s go-to conception of evil, but he was also a drugged-out racist who wrote forgettable songs that even his acolytes probably didn’t enjoy as much as they were letting on. Read full review
42
The PlaylistKimber MyersMay 3, 2019
[A] bland, sometimes dull film ... Those unfamiliar with the history of the Manson Family murders won’t gain any real understanding of the crimes or the character of those who committed them, while those who know the details won’t get any new insights into it either. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 11, 2019
A social worker’s take on a lost soul can be valuable, but in a drama it’s too orienting. You want to see how a person could surrender herself — her self — to something so diabolical, which demands a higher level of insanity than the filmmakers can muster. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanMay 7, 2019
A very strained attempt to understand the motivations of the women who killed for Charles Manson. Read full review
40
Film ThreatMatthew PassantinoMay 2, 2019
Charlie Says ... missed a chance to explore the psychology of a cult and instead feels like a gauzy art installation without much focus. Read full review
40
Screen DailyDemetrios MatheouSep 8, 2018
Skimpy psychological insight, a clumsy structure and what turns out to be a miscast Smith all contribute towards what seems like a wasted opportunity. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 8, 2018
It has none of the brilliance and insight of Emma Cline’s 2016 novel The Girls, on roughly the same subject. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedMay 10, 2019
Never catches fire or fully engages the imagination in the nightmarish way it should. Read full review
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