Operation Mincemeat
Netflix | Release Date: May 6, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMay 13, 2022
The many stumbling blocks, setbacks and eventual (spoiler alert for a three-quarters-of-a-century-old war) triumphs of Operation Mincemeat are handled by a deft crew of real-life stiff-upper-lip types played by the finest U.K. actors working today. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubBrent SimonMay 8, 2022
It’s also shot through with a humanizing sense of uncertainty, moral complication, and even wistfulness about the manner in which this work weighs upon its practitioners, for an altogether rewarding experience even for those viewers who traditionally eschew wartime dramas. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayMay 14, 2022
Operation Mincemeat isn’t groundbreaking cinema, but it’s well-crafted and thoughtful; and when the heroes are inventing the personal details for their dead soldier and imagining all the real lives they’re affecting, the movie becomes appealingly bittersweet. Read full review
80
ABC NewsPeter TraversMay 13, 2022
Sometimes a shamelessly retro wartime romance is all the escape you need and Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen add class and wicked humor to this fact-based WW2 spy thriller about how British intelligence used a corpse to put one over on Hitler. Read full review
80
CNNBrian LowryMay 11, 2022
The film thus operates on multiple levels, playing like an old-fashioned caper as well as a window into history. And like its inspiration, if there are hiccups here and there, when the smoke clears it's hard to consider this delicious "Operation" anything but a rousing success. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMay 9, 2022
Aside from the fact that Operation Mincemeat features not one but two former Mr. Darcys (one from the much-loved 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series, the other from Joe Wright’s similarly marvelous 2005 film adaptation), and works beautifully as a romance, it’s also a cracking espionage caper. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 21, 2022
A far more decorous affair than its macho-burger title would suggest, this is a classy production with a first-rate ensemble cast, splicing the story’s intrigue with a poignant vein of melodrama. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeMay 13, 2022
Ashford’s screenplay and Madden’s excellent direction all manage to take what could’ve easily been a fairly standard historical war drama and turn it into something more intricate, layered, and surprisingly powerful. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 13, 2022
Operation Mincemeat takes liberties. All historically based movies do. Call Madden’s version a civilized shell game that accomplishes its mission, more or less in the spirit of how things actually got made up and went down. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMay 11, 2022
The story itself is so absurd and is told with enough surprises and dry humor that it’s constantly engaging. Read full review
75
ObserverEmily ZemlerMay 9, 2022
It’s a true story so strange it makes you wonder what other untold chapters of World War remain. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 5, 2022
Firth and Macfadyen (hey, they’ve both played Mr. Darcy!) are terrific together as two men who really don’t like each other, don’t trust each other and have different ways of trying to connect with Jean. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 23, 2022
Madden, screenwriter Michelle Ashford and the cast perform their greatest service in reminding us that real history, unadorned, can make the best drama. Read full review
67
The PlaylistMitchell BeaupreMay 11, 2022
When Operation Mincemeat is focusing on the nitty-gritty, the clinical elements of the operation and how these people hope to pull it off in a way that doesn’t get people killed, it can be thrilling. Read full review
60
CineVueTom DugginsApr 16, 2022
It has its moments, but the film is guilty of being fun but forgettable, much like those numerous spy stories cooked up on typewriters in the quiet hours of night and then lost to history when the guns fell silent. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 15, 2022
A cram-it-all-in adaptation of Ben Macintyre’s 2010 history book of the same name, which knuckles down to its task with sleeves rolled, upper lips stiffened, and vast sheaves of exposition to whip through. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentApr 14, 2022
Though occasionally undone by its Sunday-teatime tendencies, this is a spirited and gently entertaining slice of wartime espionage, with sharp, wry performances from the ensemble cast. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 13, 2022
Operation Mincemeat is watchable enough, but perhaps can’t find a fictional way into the stranger-than-fiction outrageousness of the scheme itself. Read full review
60
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsApr 12, 2022
It’s a model of old school screen storytelling, where the robust individual elements coalesce into the exact sum of their parts and not a single ounce out either way. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenApr 7, 2022
If you’re on the hunt for a diverting slice of prestige espionage hokum that comes with a side helping of real history, Operation Mincemeat is a satisfying night at the pictures. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 13, 2022
When Operation Mincemeat slows down enough to see into those shadows — when the film slows down enough to leverage the fictions its characters invent for the Nazis against the ones they invent for themselves — it finds a hidden war that’s worth fighting to the end. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMay 13, 2022
A better, subtler movie lurks somewhere in Mincemeat; for dads and history buffs, the pleasant hash it presents instead is passable enough. Read full review
50
Screen RantAlexander HarrisonMay 13, 2022
Operation Mincemeat is a solid movie, the only reasonable reactions to which are mild. A small smile and a nod of approval on one end of the spectrum, a tilt of the head and a dismissive shrug on the other. Read full review
50
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaMay 13, 2022
Operation Mincemeat turns an absurd chapter in World War II history into a dour homework assignment. Read full review
50
The New York TimesLena WilsonMay 12, 2022
Operation Mincemeat is overall light on remorse and far more interested in intrigue, both political and romantic. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Xan BrooksApr 18, 2022
A quality cast tackle the script’s various twists and turns with aplomb. But the tale itself feels cumbersome and over-furnished, listing under the weight of its bolt-on subplots and endless reams of dialogue. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyMay 10, 2022
A fine cast — Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton — do their stiff-upper-lip best. It’s not good enough. Read full review
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