The Photograph
Universal Pictures | Release Date: February 14, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Associated PressMark KennedyFeb 13, 2020
Written and directed by Stella Meghie, the film is a gentle and attentive inter-generational tale with a first-rate cast. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 19, 2020
It’s a knowing and insightful look at how lives can be forever changed and love can be lost or gained in a single moment. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesFeb 14, 2020
All of it combines into not only a profoundly romantic experience, but also an exploration of a number of different kinds of love and connection. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloFeb 14, 2020
Through cinematographer Mark Schwartzbard’s lens, The Photograph feels like a gentle throwback to romantic movies that left their audiences in good spirits as they filed out of the theater. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerFeb 13, 2020
Meghie’s films don’t conform to conventional plot structure; her approach is more musical, more fluid. As a result, her rhythms are sometimes a little off, as the plot wanders down this or that detour. On the plus side, she makes time for naturalistic conversations. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 13, 2020
The Photograph treats all its characters with some decency and understanding, in a genre where straw villains and cardboard adversaries typically run rampant. The plaintive, jazz-inflected musical score by Robert Glasper establishes the right vibe and level of drama, which is to say: more like life and less like the movies. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekFeb 14, 2020
The Photograph, both thoughtful and entertaining, with a pleasurably laid-back vibe, belongs to a class of movie that barely exists anymore on the big screen. It’s also a reminder that appealing actors are sometimes the best spectacle of all. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisFeb 13, 2020
The sparks fly fast and persuasively — Rae and Stanfield make sense right away — and you’re soon cozying up with the couple while they share stories and increasingly heated looks in a dimly lit restaurant. The writer-director Stella Meghie understands that you want to see these two beautiful people get together, and she smoothly delivers on your own romantic (and romance genre) longings. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangFeb 13, 2020
The Photograph is a movie of seductive, slow-savored pleasures. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 13, 2020
Although the film sometimes dips into muddled melodrama, those occasional setbacks can’t derail a story filled with warm, resonant characters trying to fathom their own hearts. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 13, 2020
It’s a looser, warmer, and more meditative romance, one that takes its time by giving its actors room to breathe. Read full review
70
Screen RantMolly FreemanFeb 13, 2020
Moviegoers looking for something romantic and entertaining to catch on Valentine's Day weekend (or even later on in February) won't go wrong with The Photograph. Read full review
70
TheWrapCandice FrederickFeb 13, 2020
Though it’s an intoxicating blend of modern and vintage romance, The Photograph, while flawed, is most intriguing when it peels back the layers between a mother and daughter who never really knew each other in life, but whose stories eventually intertwine in ways they could have never imagined. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeb 13, 2020
Meghie’s film is a paean to the push and pull between enchanting possibilities and chimerical probabilities. You don’t need to bring a handkerchief into the theater for fear of ocular leakage, but The Photograph’s modestly hopeful denouement is, truly, picture perfect. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeFeb 13, 2020
Across just a handful of scenes, [Rob] Morgan emerges as the soul of the film. It’s a testament to how much the right actor can do with even the briefest screentime—and a call to give Morgan a starring role worthy of him. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 13, 2020
If only the story that surrounded it was as strong and well-crafted as the locales and people who populate it, The Photograph would be more than worthy of affection. As it stands, it just never quite develops into anything more. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineDerek SmithFeb 14, 2020
The film is at its best when it’s focused on the euphoria and tribulations of its central couple's love affair. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 13, 2020
In the end, it’s up to Rae (“Insecure”), at her most glamorous, and Stanfield (“Knives Out”) at his most romantic to put this over. And as they do, The Photograph develops into something rare in the movies this and most Valentine’s Days — a romance that feels romantic. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeMar 9, 2020
LaKeith Stanfield and Issa Rae light up a beautiful-looking movie that weaves together love stories from the past and present. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Angelica Jade BastienFeb 14, 2020
Unfortunately, The Photograph doesn’t quite deliver on the promise of its premise. Read full review
50
The PlaylistAsher LubertoFeb 17, 2020
Ultimately, no amount of champagne, pretty faces, and New York real estate porn can turn dull lovers and a dramatic lack of focus into a pretty picture, and this is the reality The Photograph captures in the end. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiFeb 14, 2020
Watching The Photograph is like looking through a friend’s old photo album — it’s not as exciting as your friend thinks it is. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 14, 2020
The Photograph comes down with a teary case of "The Notebook," laying on flashbacks that yank us out of the present, where our stars live, and into a past riddled with sentimental clichés. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 13, 2020
The characters are engaging, and writer-director Stella Meghie is able to keep us interested in them for about an hour — and then the drama leaks out of the movie completely. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterBeandrea JulyFeb 13, 2020
The Photograph is a romance-heavy star vehicle for Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield that’s deeply flawed but both sexy and thoughtful. Writer-director Stella Meghie’s fourth feature (after The Weekend, Everything Everything, Jean of the Joneses), thick and multi-layered with a lush and precise visual language, invites the audience to look beneath the surface of a standard meet-cute. Read full review
40
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeMar 5, 2020
The film’s failure is a shame. The straight romantic movie deserves to thrive and African-American talent deserves an opportunity to play out its stories in the mainstream. But The Photograph is too nice, too leisurely and too lacking in friction. Oh, for more of the briefly glimpsed satire that, in scenes set in the 1980s, sees Mae’s mom competing for a job against an unending line of banal, primped, Upper East Side princesses. That’s what we’re looking for. Read full review
40
The GuardianAdrian HortonFeb 13, 2020
Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield can’t save this dreary Valentine’s drama that lacks fizzle and emotional stakes. Read full review
More From This Movie

62 Critic Reviews

5.9 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