The Lady in the Van

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: December 4, 2015

6.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 56 Ratings

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foxgroveDec 4, 2015

‘When I write about this it will be about a lot of s***’, states Alex Jennings as playwright Alan Bennett during a particularly insightful moment in this dull adaptation of Bennett’s own play. Whilst I wouldn’t have particularly chosen to use‘When I write about this it will be about a lot of s***’, states Alex Jennings as playwright Alan Bennett during a particularly insightful moment in this dull adaptation of Bennett’s own play. Whilst I wouldn’t have particularly chosen to use the phrase myself, its inclusion is pertinently apt given the film’s surprising failure. As the saying goes if the cap, or in this instance the bag fits, wear it! Based on true events it lacks both drama and laughs. Maggie Smith can do this kind of role in her sleep. She is a wonderful actress and a great British institution, but there is nothing new in her characterisation here that she hasn’t done many times before. Alex Jennings actually gives the best performance, well two actually, in a dual role that sees him uncannily impersonating Bennett as both the person and the writer. Only in the film’s final act does an element of pathos creep in to stir the interest, but it’s far too late in the day to stave off one’s overall disappointment and apathy.… Expand

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CharlotteGalMar 19, 2016

The Lady In The Van is really bad... had it not that I was watching it with a friend I may cut my losses and walked out. Really, this one should have gone straight to video...

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GardenPartyMar 20, 2016

As a lifelong Anglican Bennett should be ashamed to write such nasty claptrap about an elderly Catholic women; he makes Catholicism a center concern of his writing, and he roundly, and unfairly, criticizes it. If it had been a white personAs a lifelong Anglican Bennett should be ashamed to write such nasty claptrap about an elderly Catholic women; he makes Catholicism a center concern of his writing, and he roundly, and unfairly, criticizes it. If it had been a white person writing about a black character, there would have been a protest. But, since it is British, and it is only a Catholic, it jolly well funny. What is so sad is that the premise and the writing are good, the religiious bigotry is aweful. I am no great defender of The Church, but with the history of the Church of England, the writer should have known better. He is just another London bigot.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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