Reagan
Rawhide Pictures | Release Date: August 30, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
22
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
4
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
Film ThreatAlan NgSep 4, 2024
As a film, Reagan is about as perfect a biopic as you will get. The story flows quickly and feels cinematic for a man whose life plays out like a movie. Read full review
50
VarietyJoe LeydonAug 31, 2024
This is hagiography, not history. If you accept it as such, you may find yourself mildly engrossed from scene to scene, regardless of your political persuasion, without ever viewing “Reagan” as anything more substantial than a small-budget docudrama series on cable TV. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 29, 2024
This is a competently made film with decent cinematography and production design, and the casting is never less than ... interesting, but it favors a simplistic approach and a narrative that verges on adoration. Read full review
42
Original-CinChris KnightAug 30, 2024
Reagan the man may have been known as The Great Communicator, but Reagan the movie delivers its message stridently and with little nuance or room for debate. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennyAug 29, 2024
It all makes for a plodding film, more curious than compelling. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 30, 2024
Quaid’s impersonation is solid, and makes one wish he’d been given the chance to take on a more nuanced version of the title character. Read full review
38
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckAug 29, 2024
This is a 135-minute film that demands a lot more depth. And, so, to co-opt a political phrase from Bill Clinton, whom Quaid also has played: It’s the script, stupid. Read full review
37
Washington PostTy BurrAug 28, 2024
For a movie about the Great Communicator, “Reagan” communicates surprisingly little. Read full review
35
The Daily BeastNick SchagerAug 30, 2024
Regardless of how you feel about Ronald Reagan the president, most will be united in finding this biopic a preachy, plodding, graceless groaner. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithAug 29, 2024
Mannered acting, dismal cinematography, clunky attempts to enhance excitement via gimmicks such as slow motion, and a musical score like a fountain of goo all serve as flashbacks to Reagan-era network schlock. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberAug 29, 2024
Most of the major events in Reagan’s life are covered, but few of them are recounted in an incisive fashion. Read full review
29
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 29, 2024
The film’s sense of history is hasty, its characterizations crude. And by combining a twinkly-eyed tone with some of the goofiest performances in recent memory, the whole thing constantly threatens to reveal itself as a stealth parody flick. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comNell MinowAug 30, 2024
We could use much more insight into what made [Reagan] “the great communicator,” but this movie is a poor communicator about the history and the man. Read full review
20
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 31, 2024
Reagan is pure hagiography, but it’s not even one of those convincing hagiographies that pummel you into submission with compelling scenes that reinforce their subject’s greatness. Sean McNamara’s film has slick surfaces, but it’s so shallow and one-note that it actually does Ronald Reagan a disservice. Read full review
15
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 30, 2024
Sean McNamara’s fawning and superficial biopic about the 40th president of the United States treats the political figure as a godlike messiah who was placed on this Earth to vanquish America’s enemies, foreign and domestic, and fall perfectly in love with the perfect woman while riding horses dramatically across the California hills. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 30, 2024
A childish slog of hero worship. Read full review
7
Paste MagazineHafsah AbbasiSep 3, 2024
It fancies itself to be a likeness of reality but is simultaneously unapologetic about mythologizing its central figure, obfuscating Reagan’s sins along the way and refusing any narrative that doesn’t paint him as the Christian, capitalist savior of the family unit. Read full review
0
The A.V. ClubAlex LeiAug 30, 2024
For a movie about a man who puts himself at the center of a world apparently on the brink of annihilation, Reagan lacks any drama at all. Read full review
0
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonAug 29, 2024
Reagan is the worst kind of hagiography. It’s a wretched 2½-hour bore that’s uncurious about its subject. Read full review
0
Slant MagazineDerek SmithAug 27, 2024
The film’s treatment of its subject is belligerently hamfisted, disingenuous, and incurious. Read full review
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