One to One: John & Yoko
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: April 11, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 12, 2025
One to One: John & Yoko becomes not just an enormously moving historical portrait but a freshly relevant and cathartic one. Read full review
100
NMEMatthew TurnerMar 31, 2025
In short, this is a terrific documentary from start to finish, beautifully structured and by turns bracingly political, informative and inspiring. Read full review
90
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeApr 9, 2025
There is always room for a post-Beatles doc if it’s this good and this original. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 1, 2025
The rare rock doc that’s a must-see. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenFeb 1, 2025
In its mix of remarkable archival material, the film is both tender and galvanizing, summoning up what New York felt like in 1972 (yes, I would know) and offering a fresh slant on a country’s upheaval and a generation’s countercultural awakening. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyApr 11, 2025
The movie is at its most fascinating in its depiction of Lennon as a pragmatic activist. Read full review
88
Washington PostTy BurrApr 10, 2025
It takes nerve to make a documentary about the most unpopular period of a massively popular public figure’s life. “One to One: John & Yoko” demonstrates that it’s worth the effort. Read full review
88
The Film VerdictDeborah YoungMar 31, 2025
It is a smart and warm-hearted documentary that never tries to separate the superstar at its center from the political and cultural context, or to split John from the woman he loved and admired — and never deliberately cast shade on. It is also one of the finest portraits of these artists on film. Read full review
83
IndieWireVikram MurthiFeb 1, 2025
As much as the film repeatedly pays tribute to their relationship— its unaffected honesty, their political influence, the beautiful and often alienating art they created — it can’t compete with the view of their cozy apartment. “All I want is the truth,” Lennon once sang; he knew that it’s much simpler than you could ever imagine. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeApr 14, 2025
Ultimately, One to One might not reveal a huge amount that’s new about Lennon, but it makes him feel bracingly alive in a way few other documentaries have managed. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 11, 2025
It’s a film that mixes small screen zeitgeist fragments and madeleine moments, a memory quilt of a certain time and place, juxtaposing Jerry Rubin and Allen Ginsberg with Richard Nixon and George Wallace, John and Yoko in concert with ads for Tupperware – all inspired by the fact that John and Yoko did an awful lot of TV watching in their small New York apartment of that time, with John in particular thrilled by the American novelty of 24/7 television. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinApr 11, 2025
The result is in every sense a partial portrait, but doesn’t remotely suffer from being so – in fact, its exhortation to viewers to fill in the gaps where possible is one of its central pleasures. Read full review
80
Time OutDavid HughesMar 10, 2025
It’s a document of a febrile time and a wake-up call for a fizzled revolution. Read full review
80
The GuardianXan BrooksFeb 1, 2025
If only more nostalgic music documentaries could muster such a fun, fierce and full-blooded take on old, familiar material. One to One, against the odds, makes Lennon feel somehow vital again. Read full review
80
ColliderRoss BonaimeFeb 1, 2025
Macdonald and Rice-Edwards take us back to the 1970s to explore these two but also show that two of the most important figures in music history were just a pair of flawed individuals trying their best to use their position of power to make the world a better place. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 17, 2025
This documentary has the feel of someone flipping channels nonchalantly, and everything they turn to is an interesting watch. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonNov 14, 2025
Musically, the film is best viewed and heard as an artifact. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesTim GriersonApr 14, 2025
“One to One” isn’t a salute to the Beatles’ brilliance or Lennon’s genius. Despite the large screens this film will play on, the movie renders its subjects as touchingly life-sized. Read full review
70
TheWrapSteve PondMar 31, 2025
The filmmakers have managed to make a bracing, scattered and somewhat revelatory look at a period that’ll go down as a misstep in which the Smart Beatle was fumbling to figure out what to do and intermittently coming up with a satisfactory answer. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganFeb 1, 2025
While it’s a remarkable feat, particularly from an editing perspective, there’s also something laboratory-like about raiding the archive from a distance and imposing such an articficial structure on it. Read full review
67
Original-CinKim HughesApr 15, 2025
One to One does the couple a disservice, being too fragmented and random to declaratively or persuasively elevate them as cultural visionaries despite featuring abundant never-before-seen material and newly restored footage. Strictly for fans of Lennon/Ono or very deep 1970s nostalgia. Read full review
50
Little White LiesMichael LeaderApr 11, 2025
While she shares title billing, Ono is still framed in relation to her husband. And yet, even in passing, she emerges as an engaged, inscrutable and passionate artist: creatively confident where John seems adrift. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussApr 8, 2025
One to One: John & Yoko combines the best aspects of Boomer nostalgia with generational overindulgence. Read full review
40
The TimesKevin MaherMar 31, 2025
It is highly likely that Macdonald is making explicit connections between the US military industrial complex and the system of consumer-based capitalism that supposedly dulls the masses and funds the wars. But, sheesh, does it have to be such a drag? Read full review
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