The Children Act
Entertainment One | Release Date: September 14, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Film ThreatTiffany TchobanianSep 13, 2018
The Children Act is a masterpiece from beginning to end and it should not be missed. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflySep 14, 2018
The Children Act is perhaps a bit stilted in the overt way it sometimes attempts to spell out its arguments. But director Richard Eyre’s film still poses sophisticated questions around family, religion, marriage, law and the delicate boundaries that can or cannot be crossed in each institution. Read full review
80
CineVueLucy PopescuAug 26, 2018
The Children Act brilliantly recreates the measured mind and language of a judge. But McEwan and Eyre are also interested in conveying the tumultuous emotional currents that operate below the surface in a person – often unrecognised until it is too late. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala Halligan
The Children Act is a cerebral piece, for sure, and a disturbing one by the end, but Thompson’s performance brings life to the complex moral questions it attempts to examine. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter Debruge
The Children Act is that rarest of things: an adult drama, written and interpreted with a sensitivity to mature human concerns. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonSep 19, 2018
Based on a novel by Ian McEwan, The Children Act wanders into the tricky space created when what is moral and what is legal diverge, and law is made to suffice. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 19, 2018
Accompanied, appropriately enough, by Bach piano pieces, The Children Act is an unmitigated pleasure to watch and listen to, primarily as a showcase for Thompson’s incomparable gifts as an actress. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedSep 15, 2018
A single idea stretched out for nearly two hours, it’s an odd but strangely compelling film, but so ponderously paced that it doesn’t always convince. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 13, 2018
This certainly played differently in the UK than it will in the US, where children’s rights appear to have more latitude, even if they can seem even more at the mercy of the caprices of the judiciary. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattAug 29, 2018
Even the cast’s uniform excellence can’t quite crack Children’s outer carapace, or bring full life to Fiona’s emotional struggle as she’s forced to confront her own failings. Instead the story drifts iceberg-like toward its carefully muted conclusion, only a small part of its true scope visible above a beautiful, chilly surface. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid Ehrlich
No matter how iffy the story gets, or how clinical Eyre’s direction becomes, Thompson makes it absolutely heartrending to watch Fiona’s veneer crack one line at a time. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 27, 2018
McEwan, as is his wont, aims for something bigger here, the bigger questions — the biggest, even, of life and death. Thanks to Thompson’s outstanding performance, he mostly achieves what he sets out for. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 10, 2018
It’s worth seeing precisely for the heat of the arguments that you can enjoy after the screening and, above all, for Emma Thompson. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen Farber
The two central performances could hardly be better. Read full review
67
Original-CinKim HughesSep 13, 2018
Credit the towering talents of Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci with redeeming The Children Act, a film oddly thin on story despite coming from the marvelous Ian McEwan, who adapted his own novel for the screen but somehow failed to capture the surge of the source material. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Mark MedleySep 13, 2018
It’s Thompson who carries the film, both literally – she’s rarely off-screen – and emotionally. Read full review
60
The TelegraphSep 13, 2018
It is a drama in which, like the constituent parts of a Michelin-star-wannabe dish, every component feels painstakingly tweezered into place. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 13, 2018
The Children Act evinces measured intelligence and polished craftsmanship without ever quite shaking off the feel of a work filtered through its non-native medium. Still, it’s always rewarding to watch Thompson bring her lucid wit and deep emotional reserves to bear on a meaty role. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaSep 13, 2018
In the hands of "Iris" and "Notes on a Scandal" director Richard Eyre, McEwan’s story is stagy and austere, taking place in gleaming flats and spotless courtrooms, like a Nancy Meyers movie with more court wigs. It’s a wan, sapped atmosphere, making the life, faith, and literal blood of a 17-year-old boy all the more stark a line to run through it. Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 12, 2018
Thompson never disappoints, nailing every nuance of a judge who lets the world in at the cost of losing her own judgment. This is acting of the highest order. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerAug 27, 2018
If it lacks filmmaking fireworks and emotional wallop, The Children Act delivers a sensitive, thoughtful drama about complicated issues. And it is another reminder, if one were needed, of the subtlety and skill of Emma Thompson’s stratospheric talent. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeAug 26, 2018
There is no questioning the angular complexity of the central character study, with all its unexpected harmonics and discords. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
The Children Act is concerned with love, intimacy and moral responsibility and it is refreshing to see a movie which sets itself standards of this sort. But there is also something a little too neat in the way all these things are wrapped up. Emma Thompson’s performance, so elegant and vulnerable, carries the picture. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneySep 19, 2018
The Children Act isn’t all that interesting a movie, despite the many talented people involved and the generally high level of work they do. The most interesting thing about it is how it presents a case study in the very different way style can determine what works on the screen vs. what works on the page. Read full review
50
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergSep 13, 2018
The movie finally punts on grappling with its ambiguities. The finale feels functional rather than haunting. Read full review
50
TheWrapAlonso Duralde
If Emma Thompson can’t make The Children Act...into something interesting and meaningful, then no one can. And she can’t. Read full review
45
Film Journal InternationalSimi HorwitzSep 13, 2018
The acting is not the problem. It rarely is. And, within parameters, the movie is not dull. Just don’t expect to feel much short of guilt in response to your own apathy. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSep 13, 2018
The Children Act stages the clumsiness of belated domestic confrontations with the very coldness that’s kept its characters from having discussed their emotions for decades and from having had sex for almost a year. Read full review
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