Fairyland
Lionsgate | Release Date: October 3, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonOct 8, 2025
Durham’s direction is sensitive and assured, and he does a great job mixing his location work with archival footage to create an authentic sense of what San Francisco was like during those times. This is not one of those movies that shoots in the city for two days then absconds to Vancouver for the rest of the shoot. This is a Bay Area movie through and through. Read full review
91
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerJan 31, 2023
In a narrative filled with numerous opportunities for scenes you’ve seen before, Durham ducks all the cliches to stay focused on what’s most important: a father, a daughter, and the words they shared between them. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzOct 10, 2025
This is an honest, real movie about people living big lives during tumultuous times, and coming through damaged but wiser. Read full review
82
Paste MagazineAudrey WeisburdOct 9, 2025
Though the threat of tragedy hangs over Fairyland, it never diminishes the film’s emotional weight. As a viewer, you carry a heavy heart that knows where the story is likely heading, yet some part of you still hopes a miracle might intervene. Read full review
75
TheWrapJan 28, 2023
Though there are a few clunky or obvious monologues in the script (perhaps the hazard of adapting a memoir), the emotion and intention behind the story, as well as McNairy’s career-best performance, make “Fairyland” an astonishingly moving film and touching remembrance. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeJan 28, 2023
When Jones and McNairy are playing off each other, Fairyland really finds the beauty of this story. Especially in the third act, as this relationship becomes more difficult and uncertain, both present themselves as people who struggle with the balance of doing what's right for themselves and doing what's right for each other. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennyOct 2, 2025
This moving film’s sense of hometown pride is subtle but apt. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 28, 2023
Its surge of final-act feeling will speak to any audience that has ever experienced the startling reckoning that comes with grief. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJan 28, 2023
Emotionally effective and often quite tender, the film boasts understated, powerful performances from Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganJan 28, 2023
Durham captures a place in time quite beautifully, and McNairy is sympathetic and believable playing a character who could be perceived as weak, or neglectful, but instead comes across as a somewhat hopeless romantic. It’s really his performance that lingers. Read full review
67
The Film StageMichael FrankJan 28, 2023
Fairyland is McNairy’s film. He ripped my heart out. He’ll likely do the same to the majority of viewers, leaving wet eyes and sniffling nose. Fairyland is McNairy’s to care for, to love, to let go. In return, he gives his greatest performance. Read full review
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