Downton Abbey: A New Era
Focus Features | Release Date: May 20, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Paste MagazineAmy AmatangeloMay 19, 2022
This is a movie for the fans—almost a gift, really. The last two-plus years have been a lot for everyone, and to escape to late 1920s England and France in all its splendor is a delight. Read full review
88
ObserverEmily ZemlerMay 17, 2022
It’s not a guilty pleasure; it’s actual pleasure. If there was ever a time to run into Downton Abbey’s welcoming embrace it’s now. Read full review
83
ColliderRoss BonaimeMay 19, 2022
A New Era shows that Downton Abbey doesn’t have to sacrifice joy to also explore sorrow and pain. Amongst charming tales of Hollywood and French getaways, A New Era delves into loves lost, missed opportunities that leave its mark on our lives for years, and how one will be remembered long after they’re gone. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryMay 20, 2022
Elegant, occasionally adorable and at times quite emotional, series creator Julian Fellowes still knows how to pluck the right strings – upstairs and downstairs – to play a symphony with his sprawling cast. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 18, 2022
Downton Abbey: A New Era goes down as easy as a Nice sunset. Read full review
80
Screen RantRachel LaBonteApr 25, 2022
First and foremost, this remains a film for the fans. As such, Downton Abbey: A New Era is a triumph. After several tumultuous years, returning to a well-known universe with beloved characters is a balm and anyone who has followed along with the Crawleys will find plenty of enjoyment within the film. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinApr 25, 2022
“We have to be able to enter the 1930s with our heads held high,” Dockery says – another hint that further Downtons may just keep roaring down the road, Fast & Furious-style. But it’s hard to believe that any could serve as a better send-off than this. Read full review
80
SlashfilmMatthew BilodeauApr 25, 2022
"A New Era" is two hours of charming, breezy escapism that made me happy to see this ensemble learn to grow beyond the roles they've been given to play. Only time will tell if "Downton Abbey” continues this streak of progress, or further settle into its opulent creature comforts. Read full review
75
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMay 20, 2022
A New Era really, really should be the end of Downton Abbey, but I’d happily watch these freaks stumbling through the 1930s if they were so inclined to let me. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 20, 2022
Charming as it all is, don’t expect A New Era to win many awards or break box office records. But it’ll definitely hit a sweet spot for those eager to visit with these old, familiar characters once more. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 20, 2022
Director Simon Curtis and editor Adam Recht deserve a lot of credit for packing a helluva lot of story into a picture that’s only a hair over 120 minutes. Read full review
75
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerMay 18, 2022
While not bursting with ambition or any interest in deviating from proven formula, A New Era does exactly what you hope it would do, and give series fans a little more time with beloved characters, even daring to alter the status quo in one or two major ways. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMartin TsaiMay 18, 2022
Downtonians will likely feel all too happy to visit this cast of characters again, and here Fellowes reminds us how we got so invested in their lives in the first place. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 18, 2022
The subtitle refers not only to the twilight of the 1920s but to a changing of the guard in this entertainment franchise as well. In that sense, maybe Downton Abbey isn’t really giving its fans what they want, but what they have always needed to accept in this epic saga: that time doesn’t stand still. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittMay 18, 2022
Directed by Simon Curtis and written by series creator Julian Fellowes, the sequel is a charming and soapy new chapter filled with enjoyably dry humor (mostly courtesy of the fantastic Maggie Smith), some heartbreak, a dash of mystery and a history lesson from old-school Hollywood. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 17, 2022
The acting is splendid. Fellowes’ dialogue may not be subtle, but the actors are so familiar and at home in these roles that they make up for whatever is lacking. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 17, 2022
As usual, the production design and costumes are museum-perfect, and even as things remain as complicated ever with the Crawleys et al., the film itself is the definition of a simple pleasure. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKimber MyersMay 13, 2022
Despite its pedigree, “Downton Abbey” remains the fanciest of soaps — the kind that Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey use — but it’s still a soap. There’s drama and dalliances, and it would all seem so silly if it weren’t for its setting, cast, and budget. Some plot elements are so ludicrous that they earn giggles, but Fellowes makes it so purely enjoyable that it’s hard to complain too much. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 12, 2022
Fellowes gives the characters’ moments that sing, and director Simon Curtis (“My Week with Marilyn,” “Goodbye Christopher Robin”) makes the entire frothy affair skip along, start to finish. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattApr 26, 2022
A New Era is strictly high-toned formula, from its God's-eye opening over spire-tipped turrets and green-velvet lawns to its soft-focus finish, but it feels like home. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandApr 26, 2022
"A New Era” doesn’t feel like a cash-grab, but a true continuation. Lush settings, well-appointed sets, and an eye-popping wardrobe only add to the magic, and good luck not happily sinking into two hours of confectionary entertainment. (The endless jokes about the film industry somehow only add to the zip of it all.) Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonMay 19, 2022
There’s so much going on that one loses track of how inane so much of it is, but “A New Era” is also a pleasure, guilty or otherwise: Mr. Fellowes doesn’t go very deeply into any character, his frictionless repartee gliding by. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyMay 19, 2022
The whole movie-making story line is the most fun part of A New Era and gives Fellowes, who wrote the script, and director Simon Curtis an opportunity to do what Downton Abbey has always done best: explore class distinctions and how those boundaries are constantly changing. Read full review
70
SlateJune ThomasMay 19, 2022
It’s all a lot of poppycock, and yet! Despite all this carping, Downton Abbey: A New Era was as satisfying a filmgoing experience as I can remember. Perhaps the nonsensical narrative lowers viewers’ defenses so the emotional anvil can land all the harder. Read full review
70
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaMay 13, 2022
Downton Abbey: A New Era starts out as a wistful return to the familiar before shedding its skin and letting the series’ nauseating ugliness come frothing to the surface. It goes from funny and charming to jaw-droppingly grim at the drop of a hat — a wild tonal whiplash that’s absolutely worth a watch. It’s a concentrated dose of Downton Abbey. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeApr 25, 2022
Fellowes gives us an affectionate group hug, which is effectively what these encore visits amount to. Read full review
67
Original-CinJim SlotekMay 17, 2022
Director Simon Curtis and writer Julian Fellowes deliver the dual comedies of errors with cheer, sprightly/stately music and the lightest of drama. The scenery, both at Downton and in France, is worthy of Rick Steeves’ Europe. If this is a goodbye (and there are plenty of signals that it is, barring unexpectedly huge box office), it ends on a note of smiles, tears and no hard feelings. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshJun 9, 2022
Downton Abbey: A New Era is a chaste, mannered soap opera that feels like a relic of another time in more ways than one, but perhaps, that’s the entire appeal. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 19, 2022
A New Era offers the kind of comfortable, comforting experience that Downton Abbey aficionados have been awaiting since before the term COVID was coined. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckMay 18, 2022
In the end, “A New Era” is a misnomer of a title — not much has changed, which actually may be the best gift to “Downton” fans. After a tough couple of years, you could do worse than this, the latest in what may end up being a line of sequels as long as the Crawley bloodline. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeThelma AdamsMay 17, 2022
The series’ many diehard fans will still, and should, flock to their beloved Downton and its denizens. But, as a standalone film, the fatigued period drama goes in one era and out the other with little to add. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezMay 13, 2022
A New Era’s acknowledgement that some things must die for new things to be born works to justify the film’s title by quietly linking its themes of entitlement and survival. Read full review
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversMay 20, 2022
The second film continuation of the Brit series knows it’s old-hat and out of touch. But it’s also comforting fan service and if you can shut out the real world in favor of a fantasy remembrance of things past, you’re in for a treat. Read full review
60
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonMay 19, 2022
Fellowes manages to navigate Downton Abbey to charm both reactionaries and revolutionaries. Read full review
60
EmpireJames DyerApr 28, 2022
Soapy it may be, but for those who’ve poshed it up with the Crawleys since the very start, this is an affectionate, escapist hug of a movie — like being wrapped in a doily. Read full review
60
Time OutHelen O'HaraApr 26, 2022
The people of Downton Abbey have never been relatable, but they’re really pushing it this time. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeApr 26, 2022
For all the moral compromises and narrative confusion, you couldn’t say A New Era is boring. There is a constant sense of excellent actors making the best of indifferent material. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 25, 2022
As hammy, silly, and undeniably entertaining as ever. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 19, 2022
Die-hard Downton fans aren’t going to grumble at the chance to spend more time with well-loved characters, and there are plenty of bright spots along the way. Read full review
50
Little White LiesSaskia Lloyd GaigerApr 29, 2022
The overall effect of this well-starched pantomime of Britishness is dizzying – it produces the peculiar kind of seasickness induced by cake-coloured period dramas when they don’t quite capitalise on their potential for quality kitsch, instead over-amping the nostalgic sentimentality, and neglecting the campiness that could make them so much more fun. Read full review
50
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganApr 25, 2022
In a whizzing carousel of no war, no surprises, no peril, just 1920s frockery, Downton Abbey: A New Era delivers exactly the same as every other incarnation of Downton Abbey, only with a tearjerker ending for the core fanbase. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 19, 2022
This one, written by Fellowes and directed by Simon Curtis (“My Week With Marilyn,” “Woman in Gold”) with the same workmanlike efficiency, affords its share of passing pleasures. And not just of the usual luxury-porn variety, although those who watch “Downton Abbey” for the pearls, frocks and waistcoats, the posh furnishings and elegant dinners will hardly be disappointed. Read full review
40
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyApr 26, 2022
Downton Abbey: A New Era is whatever the opposite of a French Exit might look like. Rather than a party guest slipping out quietly, it’s the bumptious visitor making their final, sluggish turn around the room. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 25, 2022
Even the acerbic bons mots delivered with crisp aplomb by Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess, Violet Grantham, don’t match the tart-tongued precision of her best retorts. And the direction of Simon Curtis — the man who made even Helen Mirren dull in Woman in Gold — seldom rises above serviceable. Read full review
38
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMay 20, 2022
What was once a sophisticated, edgy, witty, sexy drama series has become “The Love Boat” Season 10. Though these wax figures’ love is even less exciting and neeeeew than that old show. Read full review
25
TheWrapNicholas BarberApr 25, 2022
It was disingenuous of the filmmakers to use the phrase “A New Era”, because the film relies wholly on its viewers’ affection for characters and situations they have seen many times before. Read full review
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