Juliet, Naked
Lionsgate | Release Date: August 17, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
12
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Original-CinKaren GordonSep 3, 2018
Yes, it’s a formula and we’ve been here before. But the characters are engaging, the performances elevate the material, and the various dilemmas of each gives this more layers than you might expect. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 16, 2018
A charming film of an engaging, adult nature about two very different people trying to press reset in their lives, it is comic, heartfelt and smart as they come — a rare combination these days. Read full review
85
Film Journal InternationalKevin LallyAug 16, 2018
Endearing and funny but with a melancholy edge, Juliet, Naked is more than just a rom-com—it’s a movie for and about adults, in all their messy complexity. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 24, 2018
One of the bright sidelights to Juliet, Naked is the bemused way it deals with the crazy-making ramifications of hero worship. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 14, 2018
Much like the book, the plot is essentially a wisp, and Byrne is far too luminous for her sad-sack role. But Juliet still feels winning; the small, sweet grace note on a familiar melody. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 8, 2018
Byrne and Hawke, both easygoing, naturalistic performers at their best when they barely seem to be acting, have an utterly persuasive connection. Read full review
80
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 21, 2018
Hawke and Byrne have a nice chemistry, handling an offbeat and initially epistolary romance with wary sweetness. Juliet, Naked is surprising in its emotional contours, hitting familiar beats from different angles or, occasionally, taking the story in wholly unexpected directions. Read full review
80
Village VoiceApril WolfeAug 16, 2018
Juliet, Naked has its charms, and they are named Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It’s everything a mainstream rom-com should be but no longer is — literate, unpredictable, full of bustling tangents. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 29, 2018
The film has a lot to say, but it thankfully does it in a manner that is natural, gentle, and if you will, authentic. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 3, 2018
An unevenly paced but ultimately winning romantic comedy, Juliet, Naked is the latest success based on a Hornby novel, joining "Brooklyn," "High Fidelity," "About a Boy," and "Fever Pitch." Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldAug 31, 2018
As rom-coms go, it’s pretty much everything you want, even if it’s not quite distinctive enough to linger. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 30, 2018
Open-hearted and sure to resonate with more than a few viewers, Juliet, Naked roms and coms in the most charmingly honest ways. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonAug 30, 2018
You could call Juliet, Naked a romantic comedy, and you could probably predict with some accuracy how the relationships play out. But it's the details here that count, and they paint a substantive and truthful picture of middle age, and the way it is acquainted with regret and failure. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 29, 2018
The cast — Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, comic sad sack Chris O’Dowd (“Bridesmaids,” “The Sapphires”) — is in a higher weight class than the material and, rather than be dragged down into formula, they raise the movie up to the nearly scintillating. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 25, 2018
Juliet, Naked is very like a Hornby novel in that it’s irresistible and appealing and full of tenderness and idiosyncrasy, and yet when you try to tell people what was so great about it, you can’t do it justice. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanAug 21, 2018
Described as a “98-minute diversion” by producers at a recent screening, the romantic comedy is just that: a sweet-tart confection that, like lemon sorbet, cleanses a palate gone sour from too many cinematic servings of the heavy stuff. Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrAug 16, 2018
The film buzzes along with introspective conversations, all-too human moments, a terrific soundtrack with everyone from Marianne Faithfull to The Pretenders, and a few delightfully awkward scenes that really drive home the whole “don’t meet your idols” conceit. Read full review
75
The Film StageDan Mecca
There is a quality to these performances and an earnestness to the filmmaking that’s more than enough to recommend. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 23, 2018
Byrne is a delight. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen Gleiberman
It’s a winsome screwball love story that grows on you and takes you somewhere charming. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 29, 2018
In addition to being the rare modern romantic comedy that manages to nail both the "romantic" and the "comedy" with equal aplomb, Juliet, Naked is also a wonderful, welcome late-summer fling, the kind that can be enjoyed with no regrets and no apologies before harsh reality resumes once more. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 17, 2018
Juliet, Naked is annoyingly hit and miss. But when Annie and Tucker connect with the gob-smacked Duncan, the movie substitutes the hard sell for grace notes and wins us over. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 15, 2018
Mr. Peretz and the screenwriters (Evgenia Peretz, the director’s sister, is credited along with Tamara Jenkins and Jim Taylor) find an amiable farcical groove, and the actors embrace the ridiculousness of the circumstances without overdoing it. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloAug 14, 2018
Epistolary courtship can be achingly romantic—but only on paper, where it belongs. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloAug 17, 2018
Were it not for Byrne’s endearingly optimistic performance, most of the charm of Juliet, Naked would be swept away. Read full review
50
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanAug 16, 2018
Juliet, Naked could have been great. Hawke and Byrne do have a chemistry, but they’re always on a separate bill, to crib from the musical theme. Even worse is the ensemble of supporting characters, which tends to be the strongest facet of any Hornby adaptation. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithAug 13, 2018
The film is loaded with inconsequential detours and questionable and inconsistent character psychology as it stumbles awkwardly to its foregone conclusion. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthy
Juliet, Naked never truly achieves comic lift-off. Instead, it bumps around from one mild laugh, awkward encounter and bewildering decision to another without ever building up an exhilarating head of steam. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim Grierson
Rose Byrne is appealing as a sympathetic, patient person finally sensing she deserves more from her life. But for a film that critiques men’s inability to let go of childish things, this cutesy adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel feels a bit like a fantasy version of how adulthood really is. Read full review
50
The PlaylistGregory Ellwood
Sadly, even with the contributions of four screenwriters and the still underrated talents of Byrne...it simply doesn’t work. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid Ehrlich
Welding the flow and logic of a romantic comedy to the faintly ridiculous soul of a melodrama, the film is never clear about whose story its telling, or what it might want for them. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan Hoffman
It’s unfortunate that Byrne’s offering such a tremendous performance in a film that is, to put it as bluntly as possible, so very dumb. Read full review
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