Military Wives
Bleecker Street | Release Date (Streaming): May 22, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
17
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustMay 21, 2020
No surprises await, but the performances by Scott Thomas, Horgan and company and some pleasant harmonizing make Military Wives palatable Memorial Day weekend viewing. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeMar 9, 2020
This crowd-pleasing comedy drama from the director of The Full Monty hits all the right notes. Read full review
60
Time OutSophie Monks KaufmanMar 6, 2020
The third act is bogged down with details of Kate’s backstory, and what should be a euphoric and cathartic finale is underwhelming. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeMar 5, 2020
If the writers were really doing it by the numbers there’d be a drunk one, a foreign one and a mad one. Cattaneo gets the digits back into the formula, however, for a rousing finale that – as we all knew it would – bounces back from a last-minute setback. Read full review
60
EmpireLiz BeardsworthMar 4, 2020
Not as good as The Full Monty or Brassed Off but better than Swimming With Men and Fisherman’s Friends, Military Wives is a familiar, entertaining hymn to the power of people coming together in adversity. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 13, 2019
We’re in safe, formulaic territory here, think Calendar Girls with less nudity and more harmonising, and it’s the film’s strict adherence to the rules of the subgenre that proves to be both a blessing and a curse. It works for the most part because, when done well, there’s something irresistible about the formula ... But there are also times when Military Wives starts to creak. Read full review
60
VarietyAmy NicholsonSep 13, 2019
If you’ve seen even one based-on-a-true-story British misfit hobbyists movie, you already know the tune. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 13, 2019
A nice enough time that never really aspires to be anything more, “Military Wives” isn’t just the kind of movie that ends with Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family,” it’s the kind of movie that ends with the entire cast singing along. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 22, 2020
In these times of pandemic isolation it’s no crime to look for the film equivalent of comfort food. Military Wives, though deeply reliant on formula and wrapped in a blanket of bland, fits the bill. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMay 22, 2020
Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan do their best to elevate Military Wives from a simple tune to a symphony, but the notes just aren’t there on the page. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMay 21, 2020
It’s the type of film that was birthed with 1997′s "The Full Monty," which shares a director with Military Wives in Peter Cattaneo – as well as a flat, incurious sensibility that lacks any hint of complexity in the layers of its world or the inner lives of its characters. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 21, 2020
There’s nothing in Military Wives you haven’t seen before, but these are times of comfort food, and this formulaic comedy-drama about a group of British army-base spouses who start a choir is so determined to be uplifting that your up may be lifted in spite of itself. Read full review
50
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 21, 2020
The title Military Wives is plain to the point of blandness. This good-hearted comedy-drama, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan, deserves a little better. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 19, 2020
Ultimately, this is a very predictable picture, made by the director of “The Full Monty,” Peter Cattaneo. Its formula inevitably rises up like a wave and submerges everything Thomas is trying to do. To extend the metaphor, she swims along and doesn’t drown. But unless you love this kind of movie, Military Wives will be, at best, a pleasant diversion and, at worst, a not-so-bad waste of time. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMay 17, 2020
The film seems almost content to have you forget about everything that inspired it in the first place. Read full review
45
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMay 20, 2020
With more patience, and a little rigor, Military Wives could have been a massive crowd-pleaser. As is, it’s only fleetingly charming. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 5, 2020
Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan saddled with a by-the-numbers script in a well-meaning but hackneyed Brit flick. Read full review
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