The Seagull
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: May 11, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
16
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyDana SchwartzMay 10, 2018
The Seagull is lush and dreamlike, leaving the drawing room for lake, field, and forest. Though we lose some of Chekhov’s claustrophobic talkiness, the dense poetry of his language, Mayer fully captures Chekhov’s sharp humor. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireMay 11, 2018
Handsomely mounted and well-acted by a stellar cast, but it’s one of those theatrical adaptations that has no reason to exist for any viewer who can recall a superior stage version of the same work. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorMay 10, 2018
As film, the results are often fabulous. They begin with a deft use of flashback from the action’s dark conclusion; they continue with wonderfully detailed and lively camera work that catches the sparkle in Annette Bening’s eye as she plays the actress Irina dominating her many dependants, and follows the seduction of the ingénue Nina (Saoirse Ronan) as it moves out onto a rowboat in the middle of a lake. Read full review
70
TheWrapDan CallahanMay 10, 2018
The most impressive thing about this film of The Seagull is that every role has been ideally cast. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinMay 8, 2018
Although the action, set in the early 1900s, unfolds almost entirely in and around a Russian lakeside estate, the film rarely feels static or stagy, with enough brisk editing, active camerawork and intimate framing to make for satisfying cinema. Read full review
70
Screen DailyDavid D'ArcyApr 27, 2018
The Seagull, Anton Chekhov’s classic play about failed hopes and tangled attractions, is solid and satisfying in Michael Mayer’s intimate retelling for the screen. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 27, 2018
Despite a few scenes that are too on the nose, The Seagull... turns out to be very fine. Above all, it’s a platform for a handful of definitive performances. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckApr 27, 2018
This Seagull proves a worthy if hardly definitive adaptation of the classic drama. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMay 31, 2018
It’s a daunting task to mount a stage production of the play these days, given the college-lit symbolism embodied by its hapless titular bird and the narrative arcs to which today’s audiences are accustomed, much less adapt it for the big screen and still remain true to Chekhov’s delicate dramatic sensibilities. Either way, it’s an uphill climb. This film adaptation of this seminal play (the fourth, by most counts) gets about halfway up the hill. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 8, 2018
He’s (Mayer) assembled a terrific cast and mostly stayed out of their way, but the result still feels frustratingly arm’s-length, lacking the odd electricity of Louis Malle’s semi-staged "Vanya On 42nd Street." Read full review
63
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMay 24, 2018
Bening is great fun to watch here, even when she’s just watching. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 17, 2018
When it works it’s enjoyable; when it doesn’t, it falls into a generic sort of bustle, missing the darker, more troubling layers underneath. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 16, 2018
There is also something over-intellectualized and bloodless about this version. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 9, 2018
Purists may object to the cuts the filmmakers have made to Chekhov's text in the name of pacing. (And nuts to that tricked-up ending!) But The Seagull still flies on the wings of humor and heartbreak that made it a Chekhov classic in the first place. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid ParkinsonSep 10, 2018
Chekhov is notoriously difficult to film and this adaptation boldly taps into the play's mordant wit. But the fidgety and over-emphatic visuals detract from the themes and the stellar performances. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeSep 9, 2018
The result is entertaining enough, particularly when Annette Bening whirls through a scene. Read full review
60
CineVueLucy PopescuSep 8, 2018
Something about the film’s tone fails to convince. Chekhov was the master of subtext and lauded for his compelling psychological naturalism. On screen, though, the characters’ desires come across as melodramatic and their impulsive actions lack Chekhov’s subtlety. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanMay 10, 2018
Mayer’s The Seagull is not a masterpiece, but it is impressive, and for those who agree that it is important to check back in with the classics, the whole company deserves its huzzahs. Read full review
60
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 10, 2018
Onstage, we get to choose which face to regard, to watch each hard truth or unexamined lie crash against each character’s carefully maintained set of illusions. Here, we mostly see one face at a time. Those faces are grand enough that this Seagull still has much to recommend. Read full review
58
IndieWireJude DryApr 27, 2018
Theater lovers will enjoy seeing these actors take on such iconic roles, but they’ll find themselves wishing they were seeing the same great talent on the stage. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 4, 2018
Seagull, as radiantly self-absorbed as Bening can be, as self-serious as Howle and Stoll come off, as winsome as Ronan remains and as funny and cranky as Moss’s mastery of Masha might be, never quite adds up to an adaptation that’s anything more than “Well, we saw them do Chekhov.” Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 23, 2018
The film casts Annette Bening as the vain, aging stage actress Irina Arkadina, Saoirse Ronan as the naive country beauty Nina, and Elisabeth Moss as bitter Masha, dressed in black “in mourning for my life.” Those are three excellent reasons to see the movie, and the filmmaking fights them almost every step of the way. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 16, 2018
The Seagull has all the big things going for it and yet so many little things going against it that it’s just not the movie it might have been. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMay 16, 2018
Only masochists try to make movies out of Chekhov. They keep trying, and they never get it right. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMay 14, 2018
They have pruned, or purged, the drama until it runs just over an hour and a half, and, in so doing, mislaid its nervous languor. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleMay 9, 2018
Productions of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull almost always tip too far into farce or wade too deeply into tragedy, unable to sustain the play’s elusive balancing act. Michael Mayer’s lush and lively big-screen adaption is unfortunately no exception. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 9, 2018
The cast is great. The play is great. But this is still a bad movie, because it has no clear or coherent idea of how to be one. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineOleg IvanovMay 7, 2018
The film is content to present Anton Chekhov's ideas rather than grapple with their provocative and complex subtexts. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeApr 27, 2018
In a sense, each new take on Chekhov sheds insight on the timelessness of the material, and yet, this one does more to reveal missed opportunities for the next team to explore. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 9, 2018
Your hope, gradually dashed, is for The Seagull to convey more of a sense of human loss than this faintly so-whattish drama about a dead bird. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonMay 31, 2018
One has to wonder why the film was even made if it had to be so disastrously compromised. Chekhov would be appalled. Read full review
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