The Ballad of Wallis Island
Focus Features | Release Date: March 28, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
1
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinChris KnightApr 3, 2025
It’s a lovely, quirky tale, full of ruminations on regret, love coming from (and directed to) unexpected quarters, and a bizarre broken faucet that won’t not work. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonMar 28, 2025
I’d call “Wallis Island” a contender for the most quotable film of the year but there are so many good lines stacked on top of each other, and so much giggling on top of that, it’s impossible to keep up with Key’s wordplay. Read full review
100
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMar 26, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island is the kind movie that makes it all look so easy — filmmaking, performance, mood, chemistry. It’s not going to dominate any cultural conversations, and probably won’t go the awards route, but it’ll touch your soul if you let it. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 26, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island is both modest and magical. One of its co-stars, Carey Mulligan, has described its tone as a “gentle euphoria.” That phrase perfectly expresses how this wonderful movie – directed by James Griffiths from a script by Tom Basden and Tim Key – transports us. Read full review
100
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 30, 2025
Directed by James Griffiths, this is the sort of hilarious heart-warmer that only comes around once or twice a year to offer a blessed break from darkness, snobbery and streaming schlock. It’s so easy to love, even if love doesn’t come easy for its characters. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithMar 27, 2025
Directed by James Griffiths, “Wallis Island” is warm, endearing and very funny, a quintessential indie smile-maker about nice, humble people adorably stumbling their way toward a little happiness. Read full review
90
VarietyTomris LafflyJan 28, 2025
Alive with plenty of droll British humor and with a music-filled, picturesque finale that is sincerely earned, The Ballad of Wallis Island is the best kind of crowd-pleaser: disarming, joyful and full of compassion for its oddball characters. This Sundance charmer doesn’t hit a false note. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 3, 2025
Under the gentle hand of Griffiths, The Ballad of Wallis Island is both hilarious and delicate, never even making the buffoonish Charles simply a figure of mockery. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 3, 2025
This is a movie about a relationship that deserves to be nurtured and cherished. The most wonderful feature of “The Ballad of Wallis Island” is that it’s not the relationship you’re expecting. Read full review
83
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferFeb 3, 2025
Everyone involved might not get the exact arrangement they imagined, but the outcome is still magical in its own way. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyMay 30, 2025
It’s a real feat that Griffith always manages to steer the boat away at just the right moment, choosing emotional nuance over manipulation. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 30, 2025
We’re stuck with Key, a stand-up virtuoso who is thankfully amazing playing a windbag who can’t read the room – a ludicrous ruiner of sunsets, or any other vaguely peaceful moment. Read full review
80
The GuardianCatherine BrayMay 28, 2025
A funny but also melancholy piece of work. It’s more interested in maintaining a consistent and sincere emotional connection than in wild virtuoso showboating. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerMay 23, 2025
The Ballad Of Wallis Island is a big-hearted, consoling hug of a movie. It might not reinvent the wheel, but it’s the low-(Tim)-key crowd-pleaser of the year so far. Read full review
80
Time OutPhil de SemlyenMay 12, 2025
Writer-actors Tim Key and Tom Basden’s three-hander, set on a remote British isle, have delivered a rare blend of unkempt charm, emotional precision and soulful folk music with this feature-length expansion of their own 2007 short, The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. Read full review
80
ColliderAnna MillerFeb 6, 2025
Distancing itself from clichés in the name of honesty and earnestness, the charming British dramedy showcases the whole gamut of human relationships but takes tender care to highlight the good. The performances are delightfully honest, its cinematography is visually stunning and immersive, and the tale it tells is one of forgiveness and letting go – one that highlights the power of being gentle to one another. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 5, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island breaks no new ground, but it’s an unexpectedly pleasurable, funny-sad watch, full of sweet, soothing music. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 20, 2025
The performances are spot on. And all involved have made a marvelously melancholy “feel good” movie that ticks off so many Brit film boxes — eccentric characters, quaint and soggy setting, emotions kept under wraps and a charming, wistful story about moving on, being smart enough to realize the need for it and kind enough to help others manage it as well. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Radheyan SimonpillaiApr 4, 2025
Things play out as sentimentally as expected, while scratching the surface at something deeper, exploring the relationship people have to music, and how that can either change or stay frozen in time. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonApr 2, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island isn’t a great film, and it is exceedingly predictable. But like its musician heroes, it plays its notes well, and in a movie landscape often pockmarked with violence and cynicism, it’s a welcome escape. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 2, 2025
Contrivances come, and go, but The Ballad of Wallis Island rolls along, with just enough casual wit to buoy the story. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesMar 28, 2025
A carefully considered mix of humor and melancholy glows in the fragile sunshine that bathes an isolated Welsh coastline in The Ballad of Wallis Island, a wan yet affecting consideration of lost love, forgotten bands and the odd ways those entities manifest themselves in our hearts and on our turntables. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMar 8, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island plays both its drama and comedy in decidedly minor keys, straining neither for grand emotional revelations nor big laughs. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsJan 27, 2025
The film bewitches you with its seemingly spontaneous humor, a cadre of original soulful folk tunes, and its adoration of the breathtaking surroundings. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandJan 27, 2025
The result is a cozy crowdpleaser with real heart and some lovely songs, and one that doesn’t trade honesty for predictable beats. Read full review
75
The Film StageKent M. WilhelmJan 27, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island doesn’t deliver any revelatory perspective on the idea of moving on, nor is it trying to. It’s a crowd-pleasing adult comedy that manages to be sentimental without being cloying, sweet without being saccharine. Read full review
70
The Irish TimesTara BradyMay 29, 2025
Mulligan brings heart to Basden’s wistful folk compositions, and Key babbles amiably, as this crowd-pleaser salutes the redemptive power of a singsong. Read full review
70
Little White LiesKatherine McLaughlinMay 29, 2025
It may be a tad uneven and repetitive in places but it’s also enjoyably sweet and silly. Read full review
70
Screen DailyAmber WilkinsonJan 27, 2025
While audiences will probably expect to laugh, they may be surprised to find themselves shedding a tear or two as well. Read full review
70
Screen RantGraeme GuttmannJan 27, 2025
The Ballad of Wallis Island is effortless in its execution and breezy in its pacing, which makes its emotional undertones all the more surprising and affecting. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerMar 26, 2025
This fable’s push to meet, then fix, your heroes can still sound as saccharine as a solo acoustic set, but it’s smart enough to undercut itself early and often. Read full review
63
Washington PostTy BurrApr 4, 2025
Shot on Ramsey Island and other locations along the coast of Wales, the movie is gorgeous to look at, and it’s endearing enough to warm one’s hands and heart on a cold entertainment evening. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 27, 2025
Bereft of chuckles or even a substantial story, this maudlin musical fable never escapes the drag of a lead character with supporting-player energy. Read full review
30
TheWrapChase HutchinsonJan 27, 2025
It’s a cute premise that ultimately gets wrung so dry that you’re left waiting for it to finally stop. The majority of its jokes either land flat or are run into the ground. Even worse, it pulls on the heartstrings with such force and impatience that the audience manipulation is palpable in every painfully predictable scene. Read full review
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