Hedda
Amazon MGM Studios | Release Date: October 22, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
8
Negative:
2

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanOct 30, 2025
While DaCosta’s intelligence as a writer and director makes Hedda a standout film, her penchant for play makes it a delightful one. Read full review
100
The Film MavenKristen LopezOct 3, 2025
Hedda is one of the year's best movies with Thompson nothing short of wondrous. Read full review
92
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiOct 23, 2025
A sensual, ingenious update of Ibsen’s classic play, honoring the grand theatrical tradition and transforming it into new, ecstatic cinema. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeOct 31, 2025
Not everyone knows Ibsen going in, but that needn’t diminish the satisfaction of watching “Hedda Gabler” so vividly reinvented. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonOct 23, 2025
With apologies to Ibsen’s ghost, DaCosta’s tweaks have sharpened its rage. I don’t think that long-dead critic would like this “Hedda” any better. I think it’s divine. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJourdain SearlesSep 11, 2025
Hedda is a delightful, sexy ride made that reminds us that Thompson is a star and DaCosta has many more tricks up her sleeve. It’s good to hear her unique narrative voice again. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 30, 2025
There’s more going on here than pretty pictures: This fascinating portrait of a lady has ice and steel at its core. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrOct 20, 2025
It’s a subtle, affecting portrait of relapse, punctured by a wildly cruel embarrassment that is brilliantly staged and executed. Read full review
87
The Daily BeastNick SchagerOct 22, 2025
Even at its stagiest, it’s a film that, courtesy of both its director and star, burns with unbridled passions. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganOct 23, 2025
Simply put, there is nothing polite about Hedda—adultery, drug use, and suicide are all integral to the story—but the grit beneath the opulent glamour of this estate is what makes spending an extended evening within its walls so exciting. Read full review
83
The PlaylistChase HutchinsonSep 13, 2025
It’s a film where every detail of the craft is worth taking in even when the story starts to lose steam a bit towards the end. Read full review
83
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 9, 2025
Hedda’s magnetism is undeniable, and that people would be under her thrall is understandable. DaCosta and a talented team of craftspeople bolster that idea at every turn. Read full review
80
Little White LiesLeila LatifOct 24, 2025
At its heart is Tessa Thompson, giving a performance so commanding that it seems to reshape the molecules around her. Her Hedda is poised and sensual with a magnetism that affects virtually every interaction. The glance is a seduction and the lightest curled lip becomes a threat, with DaCosta trusting her leading lady to convey the power of this woman in silent, lingering close-ups. Read full review
80
EmpireAmon WarmannOct 24, 2025
Tessa Thompson has never been better as the titular not-so-desperate housewife in Nia DaCosta’s bold, stylish reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s timeless play. Read full review
80
The New YorkerRichard BrodyOct 17, 2025
In DaCosta’s hands, Ibsen’s emotionally extreme but tonally restrained play becomes a spectacular, flamboyant melodrama, with physical action as intense as the characters’ inner worlds. Read full review
80
Next Best PictureEma SasicSep 9, 2025
Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss are electrifying and seductive, and you can't take your eyes off them. Nia DaCosta puts her flair all over this retelling. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenNov 6, 2025
Hoss (so riveting in Christian Petzold’s Phoenix) gives the strongest performance, arriving at the party with a goddess-like superiority that Hedda tragically chips away at as the night proceeds. Though not without a riveting fight. Read full review
75
Washington PostNaveen KumarNov 3, 2025
There is a ritualistic, even tribal, quality to DaCosta’s telling that suggests a truth to the story untethered to time or place: Any woman confined like Hedda is will strive to escape, one way or another. Read full review
75
The Travers TakePeter TraversOct 24, 2025
Even when her movie spins and lurches, the sensational Tessa Thompson blows the dust off a classic Ibsen play to find its queer defiant heart Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonOct 31, 2025
There is no reason to adapt an existing work without doing something new, and Ms. DaCosta does plenty, though much of the updating shows how truly groundbreaking Ibsen was. And how little ground is left to break. Read full review
70
Screen RantGraeme GuttmannSep 9, 2025
DaCosta makes some key changes to the ending of this story that slightly undermine its more subversive inclinations, but that doesn't make the film any less effective. Her confident direction and Sean Bobbitt's lush cinematography make Hedda an electrifying adaptation that relishes the chaos as much as its characters, even as blood, bullets, and booze continue to fly. Read full review
67
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerOct 24, 2025
Hedda is DaCosta’s most direct and purposeful adaptation yet, but like her other films, it’s missing some ineffable push past its beginnings into more expressive territory. The process of adaptation feels more confident than the conclusion. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDavid RobbNov 1, 2025
Tessa Thompson's presence is captivating, as she relishes in exploring her character's gleeful and occasionally anxious villainy. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesSep 8, 2025
The film largely feels like an echo of something that was once great, a bit like the dilapidated manor in which the party takes place, and can’t quite reach the height of its own ambition. Read full review
More From This Movie

70 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 71 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL