The Forty-Year-Old Version
Netflix | Release Date: October 2, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 8, 2020
It revels in the pleasure and struggle of creative work. This comes through in the rambunctiousness of Radha’s students, in her belated appreciation of her mother’s paintings, in shots of street murals and sonic scraps of freestyle rhyming — in pretty much every frame of a film that, like its heroine, is grumpy, tender, wistful, funny and combative. Also beautiful. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariOct 6, 2020
Blank is hilarious and candid in this must-watch film. Every moment she breaks the fourth wall with an eye roll is worthy of a freeze frame. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubShannon MillerOct 8, 2020
It doesn’t offer perfect solutions, only a brand of humor and astute wisdom one might from someone who has lived the life. Read full review
90
Vanity FairRichard LawsonOct 8, 2020
With weary humor, Blank details how hard it is to sustain an actual, decades-long career in the arts, when the twin forces of public appetite (and money) and personal obstacle conspire to derail or deaden what was once so exuberant, so teeming with possibility. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangOct 1, 2020
The sly achievement of The Forty-Year-Old Version is to turn a critical eye on the very idea of success (by whose standards?), and to ponder exactly what level of compromise is acceptable to secure it. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenDec 19, 2020
Witheringly funny and willing to explore her own (her character’s?) flaws, Blank brings a vibrant brand of comic honesty to the screen. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNell MinowOct 9, 2020
The Forty-Year-Old Version is brimming with sharp but often understated humor and a deep experience of making art. Read full review
88
The Associated PressLindsey BahrOct 8, 2020
A quick-witted and lively debut. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshOct 1, 2020
The Forty-Year-Old-Version is that rarest of films: funny, wry, incisive, sexy and sincere. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 12, 2020
A ramshackle, winningly raw coming-of-middle-age shot in vivid black and white but told in emotional Technicolor. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodJan 26, 2020
Blank knows exactly what narrative territory she’s in and uses the dramatic conflicts at bay to make a number of decidedly funny and oh, so painful points. Read full review
80
Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsOct 15, 2020
Version is, unabashedly, a crowd-pleaser — one that arrives at a time when the crowd could use some pleasing. But it’s as thoughtful and, in the way only great comedy can be, soul-baring and honest as it is funny throughout. It signals the arrival of a great movie talent. The joke is on us if we don’t keep her around. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Simran HansOct 14, 2020
[A] warm, funny and enjoyably rude debut. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonOct 12, 2020
Even when it falters The Forty-Year-Old Version exudes confidence—the director has confidence in her lead actress, and vice versa; both trust the writer, whose more amusing lines are often contained in asides between characters discussing. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreOct 7, 2020
Shot in black-and-white with occasional accents of color, and given to camera-facing testimonials from characters around Radha’s neighborhood in a nod to Spike Lee, The 40-Year-Old Version feels like a ’90s indie throwback, loose and left raw at the edges, marked by an intimacy that can only come from drawing from the stuff of its multi-hyphenate creator’s life. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyJan 27, 2020
The 40-Year-Old Version is a beautiful achievement, one that ultimately calls attention to the huge gaps in representation of different kinds of black characters on film. It’s a gap that Blank clearly intends to fill; I can’t wait to see what she does next. Read full review
80
Film ThreatNorman GidneyJan 27, 2020
In every scene, Blank’s work shines as a writer, a director and as an actor. Her relentless charisma and authenticity tinged with wit carry every scene of the film, making it a joy to witness. This is the arrival of a talented voice in indie film. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 9, 2020
Blank uses humor to make her points and they are all-the-more memorable as a result. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 7, 2020
All in all, quite impressive for a debut. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 40 years for the next one. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePat BrownOct 7, 2020
Radha’s remaking of herself contains an uplifting, unpretentious truth about aging: It’s never too late to make a new start. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 6, 2020
It's a foregone conclusion that The Forty-Year-Old Version will be compared with films by Woody Allen, Spike Lee and Judd Apatow, the latter of whom is referenced in the title and the steady stream of vulgar humor that courses through Blank’s dialogue. But even with those obvious references, she’s crafted something all her own. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJan 26, 2020
The 40-Year-Old Version doesn’t overcome all of its rough edges, but they’re so closely tied to the personality of the creator that it’s hard to shake the underlying appeal. Read full review
70
The AtlanticDavid SimsOct 12, 2020
The film is not gritty, unvarnished, or hard to watch; it’s an easygoing, charming work, buoyed by Blank’s excellent lead performance and suffused with snappy jokes and sparkling supporting turns. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 12, 2020
It’s a love letter to the gorgeous, disorderly patchwork that is New York. It’s also a story about how we all need to reinvent ourselves as we age, and part of that is to be more forgiving of ourselves. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 26, 2020
Better late than never, this film is Blank’s shot, and by staying so true to her voice, her aim hits home. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 26, 2020
Blank’s lively debut feels liberated by its maker’s creative freedom. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 2, 2020
This is a very unhurried film (I wondered if it might have been better to lose 20 or so minutes) but it has a distinctive language of its own, and a feel for the city. Read full review
60
TheWrapCandice FrederickJan 26, 2020
It’s understandable that The 40-Year-Old Version is intentionally scattered, because it is about a woman grasping at straws in order to find her place in this very rigid space, both professionally and personally. But the film lacks the finesse to tell that story more cinematically, even running way longer than it should, as it roams towards a satisfying conclusion. Read full review
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