Stronger
Lionsgate | Release Date: September 22, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 21, 2017
There’s a raw, tangible humanity to nearly every scene that sets the film gratifyingly apart. Read full review
91
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 21, 2017
Green studies characters, allowing scenes more time to expand personalities and usually knowing when to cut. Stronger is his most conventional, audience-friendly material ever but is still a movie of such quiet intimacies. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 21, 2017
It is a straightforward and of course inspirational and at times profoundly moving tale, and even though we can predict just about every note it will strike before the opening credits roll, Green and screenwriter John Pollono and the outstanding cast elevate the material and make it something special and memorable. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 21, 2017
The fact-based Stronger is an inspiring tale of reconciliation and reinvention that sidesteps sentimentality to get to emotional truth. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 21, 2017
Based on the bestseller by Bauman and Bret Witter and blessed with a nuanced script by John Pollono, the film makes sure that tears, when they come, are fully earned. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 21, 2017
Stronger is a movie you need to see, no matter how much you think you don’t need to see it. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 18, 2017
It may be generic and inspiring TV movie subject matter, but Green immerses us in this world and punches up the limited horizons that face these characters. Read full review
83
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 16, 2017
Bolstered by sterling turns from stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, and Miranda Richardson, the film is a showcase for what Green has always been able to do so well, and what his actors continue to excel at. Read full review
80
Total FilmKate StablesDec 11, 2017
Gyllenhaal is outstanding in this inspiring warts-and-all story of a Boston bombing survivor’s recovery battle. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaSep 25, 2017
Though Gyllenhaal is making the clearest bid for the big awards performance and deserves any accolades it brings him, Maslany’s performance was the one that floored me. Read full review
80
SalonMax CeaSep 23, 2017
Stronger is an actor’s movie. Gordon Green’s touch is subtle. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 23, 2017
It’s a weird and unusually honest film. Read full review
80
VoxEmily VanDerWerffSep 22, 2017
Stronger just works, thanks to strong performances across the board and lovely, understated direction from Green (who’s tremendous at how he uses the frame to highlight his actors). Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 21, 2017
The movie is a straightforward, even familiar, tale of survival and recovery, but its grave respect for the unique extremity of its protagonist’s ordeal cancels out any impulse toward exploitation. It doesn’t make the mistake of assuming that your tears are its natural entitlement, which is precisely why you might find yourself shedding a few before it’s over. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 21, 2017
It’s terrific. This was something of a surprise, as it seems almost impossible to tell this kind of story without a treacly narrative and clichéd notes of inspiration — against-all-odds kind of stuff, which so easily slips into melodrama. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonSep 21, 2017
Director David Gordon Green, working with screenwriter John Pollono’s adaptation of the book by Mr. Bauman and Bret Witter, maintains a brisk pace. There’s barely a maudlin moment, which is remarkable given the subject matter. Read full review
80
VarietyAndrew BarkerSep 16, 2017
Green looks for small but meaningful ways to complicate and deepen the well-trod story he’s telling, and by the end, those complications help the film earn its uplift. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 16, 2017
Stronger is a film filled with warmth and humanity, but one that doesn’t sugarcoat the reality that comes with it. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungSep 16, 2017
Perhaps the most striking thing about David Gordon Green’s Stronger is how it refuses to turn its subject into a hero or even a small-time symbol of courage, as one might legitimately expect of a survivor story, even while the world is clamoring to put him on a pedestal. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteSep 27, 2017
Richardson also lends authenticity to her character, a mother adept at playing the victim (even in this situation). There’s a complexity to the family dynamic that couldn’t be more true-to-life. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 23, 2017
Although at times fictionalized to make for a more cinematic retelling, the movie is largely accurate and rigorously avoids exploitation. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 21, 2017
Stronger, ultimately, leaves its audience feeling a little stronger; we fall with Jeff, and we stand with him. Read full review
75
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerSep 21, 2017
For the majority of its runtime, Stronger manages to escape the traps that populate such films. It’s worth seeing, and worth your investment. Let’s just hope that next time around, Pollono and Green find a way to stick the landing. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerrySep 21, 2017
Stronger isn’t always easy to watch; Jeff makes bad decisions and life gets messy. But it does feel like a realistic depiction of one man’s life. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 21, 2017
Stronger always feels right in the moment, solidified by an outstanding central performance by Gyllenhaal, and some wonderful ensemble work, especially the actors just below the top billing. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDerek SmithSep 21, 2017
David Gordon Green zeroes in on the intricacies of Jeff Bauman and Erin Hurley's dysfunctional relationship, offering up an unassuming portrait of wounded love and solitude reminiscent in its sense of detail of the filmmaker's early work, like All the Real Girls. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 20, 2017
Gyllenhaal’s excellent, but, playing his girlfriend, Tatiana Maslany (star of TV’s “Orphan Black”) is something special. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonSep 20, 2017
Maslany is first-rate in this role. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartSep 20, 2017
Director David Gordon Green (“Our Brand Is Crisis”) generally skips feel-good cliché to chronicle Bauman’s struggle with being painted as the face of never letting the terrorists win. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 16, 2017
Gyllenhaal is onscreen pouring his heart and soul into an imperfect man who’s made more inspiring for being so. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 13, 2017
Some of it is too broad, and I wish the film dug a little deeper at times, but this is one of those rare inspirational films that earns its inspiration. Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennySep 21, 2017
Stronger takes more artistic risks than any other American-made “inspired by true events” picture I can recall. Read full review
70
We Got This Covered Darren RueckerSep 16, 2017
Stronger complicates the notion of the public hero in its heartfelt telling of Boston marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman's story, with terrific performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Tatiana Maslany. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 23, 2017
Too much of this movie is a conventionally rendered gloss that, in its own way, also attempts to cast Bauman as an inspirational icon. He is, but we can see in Gyllenhaal’s looks of grief and panic the makings of the more complex movie this might have been. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 16, 2017
It’s nice to report that Green, Gyllenhaal, and Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany hit some grace notes—and plant the germ of some interesting ideas—en route to the expected lifting of spirits. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorSep 16, 2017
Realism will only take you so far, and Stronger eventually opts for a conventional tale of rekindled romance and resurgent resilience. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentDec 12, 2017
A deeply human and often brutally honest depiction of trauma and recovery, anchored by three superb performances — though it often falls victim to formula. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 21, 2017
It’s almost as if, in their fascination with trauma, the filmmakers have forgotten entirely what everyday life looks like. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 16, 2017
Although director David Gordon Green commendably opts for a realistic, unfussy depiction of Bauman and his on-again/off-again girlfriend (played with welcome grit by Tatiana Maslany), Stronger feels more perfunctory than lived-in. Read full review
60
CineVueChristopher MachellSep 16, 2017
What keeps Green's film just about on the right side of rote is a trio of solid performances, a sensitive, fair portrayal of Jeff's relationship with Erin with some standout scenes between the two, and a focus on the personal over the political. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 16, 2017
Stronger feels genuine and certainly has the right intentions, but never converts to something truly enlivening. Read full review
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