The Iron Lady
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: December 30, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
21
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Charlotte ObserverRoger MooreJan 12, 2012
Lloyd finesses a deft script of brisk, quick strokes by Abi Morgan ("Brick Lane," "Shame") into a terrific entertainment. Read full review
88
New York PostKyle SmithDec 30, 2011
Sincerely directed by one woman (Phyllida Lloyd, who did "Mamma Mia!") and smartly written by another (Abi Morgan), the film stars an unsurpassable Meryl Streep, whose ability to empathize with her characters has never been more gloriously impassioned than it is in this titanic performance. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 29, 2011
The sharp economy of Lloyd's direction allows the incontestably great Streep to take impressionistic snatches of a life and build a woman in full. This is acting of the highest order. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 12, 2012
Imagine a biopic about Ronald Reagan that leaves out Gorbachev but instead dramatizes his years with Alzheimer's, and you'll get an idea of this film's misplaced focus. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJan 12, 2012
As biopics go, The Iron Lady is among the more intriguing ones. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJan 12, 2012
Yea or nay, love or hate, the portrait that Streep delivers in Phyllida Lloyd's impressionistic biopic is astonishing. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 12, 2012
Meryl Streep excels as Margaret Thatcher. And the movie itself does not work. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumDec 21, 2011
Streep is a pleasure to behold; less so the rest of The Iron Lady. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesJan 12, 2012
This conceit works precisely because Thatcher's popular appeal was so deeply rooted in nostalgia for the days of empire, and Streep, no fan of Thatcher, nicely undercuts the poignancy of her current condition with flashbacks that reveal her brittle arrogance in office. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 29, 2011
Shallow but satisfying, largely because of Meryl Streep and her big fake English teeth and gift for using mimicry as a means of achieving empathy. Read full review
70
TimeRichard CorlissDec 29, 2011
The Iron Lady is a clever and oddly touching entertainment. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyNov 27, 2011
Meryl Streep gives a fully realized portrait of British Prime Minister Thatcher in a biopic that values character over context. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJan 12, 2012
Anyone looking for a full-bodied account of the woman, her deeds, and her place in history shouldn't be encouraged to linger too long with The Iron Lady. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJan 12, 2012
The Iron Lady never delves deeply enough into the politics or the people, preferring instead to make us feel bad about the unfortunate way in which old age levels us all. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 29, 2011
It's hard to rationalize the vision of this dotty elderly woman with the tough-minded politician. The story lacks insight, glosses over key political issues and is unworthy of Streep's masterful performance. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundDec 13, 2011
The wonder and terror of Meryl Streep's performance in The Iron Lady is her formidable ability to nail the disheartening talents of not just Margaret Thatcher, but so many conservative politicians like her, who have a tremendous knack for changing minds and beckoning cheers while underlining their own rigid ignorance. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 12, 2012
A curious misfire, a stylized biography of one of the most powerful women in politics, portrayed by the greatest actress of our time, that asks more questions than it answers. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinJan 3, 2012
One of Streep's finest-ever performances. But beyond that - whatever Morgan and Lloyd's intentions - it's little more than a myth-enshrining exercise. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 29, 2011
The film catches her long after she's left the public eye, and rather than an examination, or an assessment, of her politics, it instead offers up an affecting if not always satisfying portrait of the strong-willed leader humbled by age. Read full review
58
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 11, 2012
There's no disputing Streep's brilliance, which this time feels more calculated than usual, in a movie demanding only an impersonation. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 30, 2011
The Iron Lady is too bland to be controversial, too antiquated to speak to the present. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJan 12, 2012
The Iron Lady is a performance in search of a film. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayJan 12, 2012
Can a performance be too good? Meryl Streep disappears so uncannily into former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady that her performance overpowers the movie it's in - a perfectly executed triple axel that renders everything else just featureless ice. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisJan 12, 2012
It's a parade float atop which Streep can pose and impose. Sometimes her showmanship amounts to shamelessness. She wants us to watch her sack another part. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJan 11, 2012
If I may presume: Thatcher probably would have preferred more action, less talk. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 11, 2012
You have to be very talented to work with Meryl Streep. It also helps to know how to use her. The Iron Lady fails in both of these categories. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 4, 2012
The most disappointing aspect of The Iron Lady is that some of the most memorable hallmarks of Thatcher's time in power are glossed over. Read full review
50
Village VoiceKarina LongworthDec 27, 2011
Despite the story's conceit of placing the viewer inside Thatcher's head, she never feels like a real person - but this is more the fault of Morgan's script than Streep's typically studied performance, much of it buried under prosthetics. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid DenbyDec 27, 2011
This bio-pic, written by Abi Morgan and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, is an oddly unsettled compound of glorification and malice. It whirts around restlessly and winds up nowhere. [2 Jan. 2012, p.78]
50
Boxoffice MagazineKate ErblandDec 26, 2011
Where the actress succeeds, all but disappearing into the role of Thatcher, the rest of the film is a bizarre amalgamation of archival footage, half-baked montages, hallucinations that push the bounds of poetic license straight into the gray area of bad taste, and plain old tedium. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedDec 20, 2011
Let it be said that Ms. Streep is galvanizing, even as the film slogs through too much information and not nearly enough illumination. Read full review
50
VarietyLeslie FelperinNov 27, 2011
Fuzzy-headed biopic, which glosses over the former British prime minister's politics in favor of a glib, breakneck whirl around her career and marriage. Read full review
45
MovielineStephanie ZacharekDec 29, 2011
Some of us wonder, still, how Margaret Thatcher can continue to live with herself. Watching Meryl Streep walk around so ably in Thatcher's skin isn't enlightening; it's more like a living nightmare. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonDec 29, 2011
Strangely, this Thatcher biopic might have been far more worthwhile if it wasn't about Thatcher: The aged, dotty stranger hanging out with her dead husband is a more compelling subject. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 29, 2011
While The Iron Lady fails as a biography, it succeeds incontestably as a showcase. Streep captures Thatcher's voice and mannerisms and then pushes further, creating a three-dimensional character rather than simply offering a technically deft impression. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 29, 2011
You are left with the impression of an old woman who can't quite remember who she used to be and of a movie that is not so sure either. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith UhlichDec 20, 2011
This iron lady of cinema deserves better. Read full review
35
NPRJeannette CatsoulisDec 30, 2011
Whichever side of the aisle you inhabit, you will leave The Iron Lady feeling disgusted; you will also feel cheated - of information, insight or even an identifiable point of view. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 29, 2011
Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher is the main reason to see The Iron Lady, which was directed by Phyllida Lloyd - not just the main reason but the raison d'être of an otherwise misconceived movie. Read full review
30
SlateDana StevensDec 29, 2011
The Iron Lady is, to put it kindly, a shambles. Read full review
30
SalonAndrew O'HehirDec 29, 2011
Speaking as someone who despises almost every aspect of the Thatcherite social-economic consensus that has defined the capitalist world for thirty years (and almost every aspect of Thatcher's actual policies), she deserves more than this. Read full review
More From This Movie

52 Critic Reviews

6.2 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL