Land Ho!
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: July 11, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Portland OregonianMarc MohanAug 15, 2014
Katz, who has been saddled with the deadly label "mumblecore" in the past, and Stephens ("Pilgrim Song") combine sensibilities of dry wit and warm earnestness in precise proportions. It's also further proof, if it were needed, that smart, funny, entertaining films are always around, even in the dog days of summer. You just have to know where to look. Read full review
90
TheWrapDiane GarrettJul 16, 2014
A balm for the harried soul, Land Ho! is part travelogue, part therapy session. Watching it could inspire you to call an old friend or book a trip to an exotic locale. Maybe both. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 14, 2014
Land Ho! is a hot spring of a movie: It fizzes a lot, and you come out feeling better than you went in. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJul 11, 2014
In movies, there’s “character driven,” and then there’s “CHARACTER driven.” Earl Lynn Nelson, who plays one of the two lead roles in Land Ho! a truly disarming and beguiling movie, seems from all indications to be an all-caps character. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChris CabinApr 22, 2014
That the filmmakers consistently catch the nuances of character that bind the two men to each other, rather than simply tracing the pros and cons of their dispositions, is what gives the film its melancholic yet vibrant resonance. Read full review
83
HitfixDaniel FienbergMay 22, 2014
It's a funny and moving film about aging, but it's also a wacky journey across Iceland with two characters who are instantly likable and ultimately quite lovable. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJan 27, 2014
Treasuring small victories and mood above all else, Land Ho! makes it possible to engage with its subjects' pathos and experience their sense of renewal along with them. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 10, 2014
Land Ho! is full of surprises, rich in the way it noses around the rocky terrain of aging in an indifferent world through the engaging performances of its two stars. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 10, 2014
At times, Colin and Mitch’s trip to Iceland feels like a lark, for them and for the filmmakers. Yet there’s no denying the deepening effect of a movie in which two older men, with their creases and sags, white and thinning hair, inhabit so much screen time. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 9, 2014
Land Ho! avoids schmaltz to get at that rarest of male timber: rekindled hearts. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJul 10, 2014
The film, written and directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz, is slow as Christmas, but the two protagonists grow on you, like a Virginia creeper vine climbing a garden wall. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 10, 2014
A series of picaresque adventures in a notably picturesque land. Is it enough to sustain anything resembling dramatic momentum? For a while it isn't, but then, unexpectedly, it is. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 27, 2014
Land Ho! is appealing for not going the route of easy gags and dumbed-down humor. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangJan 27, 2014
What gives the story its moment-to-moment buoyancy is the pleasure of watching two actors working brilliantly in tandem. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenSep 10, 2014
All are filmmakers who find lyricism in natural elements, and this ability reaches an apogee with Land Ho! Yet the film runs the risk of being mistaken for a picture postcard. Read full review
65
Film.comEric D. SniderJan 27, 2014
Though its uncluttered simplicity and refreshing lack of cliches render it sublimely enjoyable, the film never digs deep enough to give itself much weight. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniAug 15, 2014
Iceland is beautiful. Really, really, really - really - beautiful. That pretty much sums up the new feature film Land Ho! That message is the film's alpha and omega. Its raison d'être. Its soul and its being. Read full review
63
Washington PostJohn DeForeAug 14, 2014
Like most stars of road movies, they’re an odd couple; unlike most, both the friction between them and their underlying loyalty feel real, not contrived to supply a movie’s dramatic arc. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyAug 8, 2014
Land Ho! is both loose (shot over 18 days, with an improv quality to the acting) and overcalculated in its series of encounters, small revelations and life-affirming beats. The movie is pleasant and mostly forgettable, except for the character of Mitch. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartJul 9, 2014
A refreshingly naturalistic depiction of the dynamic of traveling companionship — at any age. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 9, 2014
It adds bubbles to the show, but doesn’t change the essentially deadpan, amusingly banal nature of this journey and the two charming old men who take it. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 22, 2014
The result is a hoot, as Nelson breathes comic life into the proceedings with an effortless, unselfconscious joie de vivre. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicHenry MolskiJul 24, 2014
The road-trip comedy is well-traveled territory, especially in indie films. But there's something unexpectedly refreshing about Land Ho! Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanJul 10, 2014
The lack of narrative fireworks is, oddly, the movie’s big gimmick. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJul 8, 2014
Land Ho! feints toward pathos and perversity, only to decide that it's better off giving us abridged, postcard emotions. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergJul 9, 2014
While it’s heartening in one sense to see this youthful, offbeat take on two men’s determination to stay eternally fresh, there’s something about the ease with which the characters reorder their lives that makes Land Ho! seem both a little slight and a little precious. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 27, 2014
Gently involving, but never quite engrossing, there’s a first draft shape to the picture that feels slight and makes for a minor work. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 14, 2014
Land Ho! is a tepid little movie that goes almost nowhere, and if I had to sit in that rental car for one more boob joke, I’d rather jump into a volcano. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleTomas LeeJul 24, 2014
You realize fairly early in the film that there will be no emotional payoff. Just an hour and a half of vacation photos in motion. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 10, 2014
More than anything, the movie makes the viewer want to hop on a plane and visit Iceland. Read full review
50
The DissolveDavid EhrlichJul 10, 2014
While Land Ho! feels like a direct extension of its characters, with sedate compositions that are a far cry from the youthful opportunism steering the camera in Katz’s previous films, the uncharacteristic transparency of its agenda clashes with the joy of discovery its story craves. Read full review
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