Golda
Bleecker Street Media | Release Date: August 25, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
15
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Film ThreatBenjamin FranzAug 30, 2023
Ultimately, this drama is an essential piece of cinematic contemplation on the value of war. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithAug 25, 2023
Ms. Mirren and the film do us all a service in declining to paint Meir as a legendary figure but instead observing that although she was a strong leader who can rightly be credited with saving her country from annihilation, crisis forced her to make grueling decisions whose psychic burdens she bore heavily. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 23, 2023
Nattiv, working from a sharp script from Nicholas Martin, expertly mixes in documentary footage to convey a sense of the times and the war. Read full review
70
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonAug 24, 2023
Extreme costuming often feels gimmicky, but here, it humanizes the director Guy Nattiv’s terse accounting of guilt. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinFeb 22, 2023
Despite being entombed in all that prop flesh and wrinkles, Mirren manages to emote very effectively with her voice, mimicking Meir’s midwestern twang, gait and posture. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 22, 2023
Golda is a good drama about Israel. But it will take a great drama about Israel to dig into the nation’s long-simmering moral ambiguities. Read full review
67
Original-CinKaren GordonAug 23, 2023
Nattiv is aiming to redeem her legacy with this film. To that end he unfolds the story like a thriller, where we get a sense of the day-to-day tensions of a war that posed an existential threat to her country and the immense pressure she was under. He has cast it well. And yet, despite the tension, Golda is disappointingly flat. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 23, 2023
For those with a particular interest in Meir, Israel, or 20th century Middle East history, there’s enough here to hold a viewer’s attention. But, as theatrical experiences go, this one underwhelms. Read full review
60
EmpireAlex GodfreyOct 6, 2023
Golda lives in the shadow of the film it wants to be, but Mirren’s warm performance and the claustrophobia of it all make it linger regardless. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 22, 2023
Cinematically, Golda doesn’t altogether avoid a TV-movie stodginess – it looks a bit drab, with some duff effects and uneven staging. But it has a businesslike running time, and doesn’t waste it. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedAug 28, 2023
The movie needs more of that charisma and fewer cigarette butts to make Golda a woman as memorable on the screen as she was in real life. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 28, 2023
A solid Helen Mirren turn in the title role gets lost in a choppy narrative and haze of cigarette smoke in Golda. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 25, 2023
Given that she’s one of the greatest actresses of her time, Mirren naturally finds ways to reveal glimmers of humanity in her portrayal of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. But the artifice of her physical transformation too often smothers her, resulting in a stoicism that makes her an elusive figure. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 24, 2023
“Golda” feeds that time-honored tradition of watching a virtuoso screen performer vanish behind a famous name and a wall of cinematic artifice. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 23, 2023
The film does have its moments, mostly involving the relationship between Meir and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, nicely played by Liev Schreiber, whose character engages in delicate negotiations with her over a bowl of borscht, speaking in a seductive, diplomatic rumble. Read full review
50
The Associated PressMark KennedyAug 23, 2023
Golda has seeds of interesting insights, like the suggestion that she was betrayed by some of the men she relied on during the war and yet protected them. Or how false intelligence is nothing new when it comes to Middle Eastern conflicts. Or how female leaders inevitably face catch-22s. But none of these is taken. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 21, 2023
While Nattiv’s film is a heartfelt tribute, it feels like a mere Polaroid snapshot of a woman who deserves a full panoramic portrait. Read full review
50
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganFeb 22, 2023
Golda is a tentative step towards looking at that inflammatory era with the depth it needs and that’s worthwhile: but plucking Golda out of her own life and that time out of its wider context still feels like a missed opportunity. Read full review
42
IndieWireBen CrollFeb 22, 2023
Ultimately, “Golda” holds three firm beliefs: That Meir is a leader to admire, that Mirren is an actress to adore, and that all interactions must be reverse engineered to fit this limited scope. It makes for a superficial biopic and blinkered bit of history, but does give the venerable performer a new accent to chew on and the chance to blow some smoke. Read full review
40
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsOct 5, 2023
The highlight of the film comes right at the end where we see some archive footage of Golda interacting with some of her supporters, and it’s never a good sign in these endeavours when reality is so much more electrifying and vital than the fiction. Read full review
40
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 22, 2023
Most of Nattiv’s film is a dry and frustrating affair. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfAug 23, 2023
Golda isn’t a failure of skill, but one of vision. Nattiv and writer Nicholas Martin deliver a biopic that feels like a complete misfire. Stale and without any sense of self, Golda unfortunately does nothing for Israel’s only female prime minister. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 22, 2023
As a war movie, it’s bafflingly dull; as a political-intrigue drama, it’s lifeless; as a personal portrait of Meir, it’s inert and superficial. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonAug 24, 2023
The end result is an inert bore. Golda fails as a character study and as an exploration of wartime mechanics. It succeeds only as Oscar bait. Read full review
33
ColliderChase HutchinsonAug 23, 2023
It is mostly a drag with some potentially sharper small details never coming together to outweigh the dullness at its core. For those who may come to the film wanting to understand more of who Golda was and her role in history via a well-written character study, they’ll only end up departing it with all of those questions still lingering. Read full review
33
The PlaylistRafaela Sales RossFeb 22, 2023
Golda fails as a war movie, impenetrable to those unfamiliar with the Israeli-Arab conflict. It fails as a biopic, too, by refusing to scrutinize how Golda rose to power — and, most importantly, how she kept at it. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 24, 2023
Directed by Guy Nattiv, the sluggish film caves to the worst tendencies of forgettable biopics. Mirren is ensconced in prosthetics and a gray wig in hopes that a lookalike transformation can distract from bad writing and a total lack of insight. Read full review
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