Hyde Park on Hudson
Focus Features | Release Date: December 7, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
21
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
ObserverRex ReedDec 4, 2012
In beauty, tone, technical achievement and cinematic artistry on every level, Hyde Park on Hudson is a movie unto itself - funny, believable, historic and hugely entertaining. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 13, 2012
Murray and Linney are terrific together (and apart), their notes pitch perfect, and the supporting cast is good all around. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDec 12, 2012
This isn't a serious historical film. It plays different instruments than Spielberg's "Lincoln." Murray, who has a wider range than we sometimes realize, finds the human core of this FDR and presents it tenderly. Read full review
85
NPRElla TaylorDec 7, 2012
This hugely entertaining movie is about the wisdom and - with trenchant wit and sympathy - the human flaws in one of America's most idealized heads of state. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenDec 14, 2012
As for Daisy, her inflated role is problematic. Although at the periphery of the action, the woman stands at the centre of the film, doubling as the compromised love interest and our voice-over narrator. But even Linney can't bring her to life. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickDec 7, 2012
Half as long and twice as much fun as the self-important "Lincoln," Roger Michell's charming sex-and-politics comedy Hyde Park on Hudson is basically a frothy tabloid take on presidential history. And for my money, that's a good thing in a season filled with puffed-up prestige pictures. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 6, 2012
Though he has competition, especially from the folks playing the visiting royals, Murray is very much the reason to see "Hyde Park." Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 13, 2012
Bill Murray as FDR? It takes a few minutes to get used to, but once he settles into the role of the 32nd president, the idiosyncratic comic actor does a wonderfully jaunty job of it in Hyde Park on Hudson. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 2, 2013
The movie finds its humor in the royals' shock at Hyde Park's lacking decorum, and a hint of FDR's political savvy. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc MohanDec 13, 2012
Unfortunately, the movie isn't a real success, as director Roger Michell ("Notting Hill") is both too ambitious in the story he tries to tell and not ambitious enough in the way he tells it. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 7, 2012
It's never altogether clear why this visually blah and dramatically bland movie needed to be made at all (or why it wasn't made for television instead). The only answer I can come up with is that Murray wanted to show off with a cigarette-holder. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJan 4, 2013
Atmospheric, well-acted, pointless story. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 14, 2012
There's an alliance of interesting stories fighting for dominance here, but instead of a clear victory, Hyde Park on Hudson is the site of a muddled truce. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 13, 2012
The problem with Hyde Park on Hudson isn't its suggestion of FDR's dark side. That complexity, and Murray's spot-on portrayal of a man juggling myriad pressures and demands, from petty to momentous, marks one of the film's greatest strengths. It's that Daisy rarely comes into her own as more than the pliant emotional helpmeet to the Great Man. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 13, 2012
The music's the best thing ... But it isn't enough to lift this middlebrow, middleweight and middling project ... above its misjudgments and limitations. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 5, 2012
Instead of focusing on FDR as a president, this movie gives up half its length to tawdry soap opera. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 6, 2012
Mr. Murray gives a fascinating performance, even though his FDR was conceived and written as a fairly small guy at the center of a small film that, for all its considerable charm, miniaturizes its hero in the process of humanizing him. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 6, 2012
Some of Hyde Park on Hudson feels like lost scenes from "The King's Speech," the 2010 Oscar-winner about King George. It doesn't help that "Hyde's" own rhythms, appealing as they are, are often soporific. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlDec 4, 2012
For stretches of the film, he (Murray) is enough to recommend Hyde Park on Hudson, especially as he toys with his houseguests, England's King George (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman). Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichDec 4, 2012
Hyde Park could have been fawningly ponderous; that it's merely an airy trifle puts it a cut above the usual Oscar bait. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondDec 4, 2012
A competent period costume drama, this intimate character study is light as air - and probably more suited to Masterpiece Theatre than as a major theatrical release. Read full review
60
Total FilmStaff (Not Credited)Oct 17, 2012
More a "King's Speech" footnote than a sequel, Park only flies when Bill's centre stage. We're curious to see how it fares against "Lincoln," the award season's other presidential hopeful. Read full review
60
The GuardianCatherine ShoardSep 13, 2012
Sometimes a film takes your breath away by dint of its brilliance. Sometimes it's on account of its ineptitude. And just occasionally, it's for its shamelessness. Hyde Park on Hudson, for all its captivating shots of cornfields and estimable performances, is the latter. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinDec 5, 2012
Hyde Park On Hudson once again finds "Meatballs" star Bill Murray leading a populist, crowd-pleasing slobs-vs.-snobs comedy, but this time, his role as Roosevelt reflects his status as a silver-haired heavyweight thespian. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJan 30, 2013
The movie hinges on Murray's turn as FDR, and frankly, he comes up wanting. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 13, 2012
The only way Bill Murray could seem less like Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson is if the movie showed him winning a marathon. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 10, 2012
The actors can't perform miracles. Hot dogs are served in the final scene, but trust me, Hyde Park on Hudson is no picnic. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensDec 7, 2012
Hyde Park on Hudson has little more on its mind than hot dogs and hand jobs - which, come to think of it, would have made for a much catchier alliterative title. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 6, 2012
The setting is vivid but the film is lifeless, despite many innuendos dropped about FDR's alleged infidelity. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 6, 2012
Roosevelt was one of the towering figures of the 20th century, but he and his accomplishments scarcely register in this amorphous, bafflingly aimless movie. The story hinges, increasingly to its detriment, on Daisy, a distant cousin to Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 6, 2012
Largely harmless and tame, but also shallow and uninvolving. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnDec 6, 2012
The actor's pathos and deadpan skills are buried in the material, which also suffers from a continuous lack of inspiration. It's high-minded entertainment with low ambition. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid DenbyDec 3, 2012
The film is perceptive and shrewd about such matters as the awkwardness of two kinds of aristocracy and power brought face to face. But "Hyde Park" never catches fire. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumDec 5, 2012
It's tastelessness like this, served up as fair-game dish to a Downton Abbey-loving audience, that sours the flavor of this tittery production. Read full review
40
EmpireAngie ErrigoJan 28, 2013
Disappointing given the talent and situation, dull as ditchwater and historically suspect, another "The King's Speech" it definitely is not. Nice costumes, though. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 11, 2013
Never elevated beyond much more than mere presidential puffery. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenDec 19, 2012
When Murray's around, he's the only hot dog in the room. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJan 4, 2013
Maybe there's a good movie to be made about the affair between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a distant cousin. I wouldn't bet on it, and Hyde Park on Hudson isn't it in any case. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 13, 2012
I don't know if I've ever seen a movie as spectacularly tone-deaf as Hyde Park on Hudson. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundNov 25, 2012
The filmmakers bite off far more than they're able to chew, resulting in an odd blend of touched-upon topics. Read full review
30
TimeRichard CorlissSep 13, 2012
Roger Michell's movie is, pretty consistently, dreadful. Read full review
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