The Secret Scripture
Lucky Red | Release Date: October 13, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
5
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Screen DailyAllan HunterSep 17, 2016
It is an elegantly crafted, expertly acted old-fashioned weepie that manages to sell a whopper of a plot that would bring a blush to the cheeks of Nicholas Sparks. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSep 17, 2016
Rooney Mara and Theo James deliver their most richly nuanced screen work to date in the drama, a memory piece whose true subject is Ireland’s tangled, bloody history and the Church’s toxic paternalism toward women. Read full review
42
The PlaylistNoel MurraySep 17, 2016
The Secret Scripture is a film with a lot to say, which struggles with the best way to say it. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 22, 2017
A variously lukewarm and lugubrious melodrama adapted from a 2008 novel by Sebastian Barry. Read full review
40
EmpireJohn NugentMay 15, 2017
A maudlin adaptation hampered by low energy and lapses of logic, The Secret Scripture does a disservice to the book it is based on, and the Irish history it plunders. Read full review
40
VarietyAndrew BarkerSep 17, 2016
A classic case of a literary adaptation capturing the high-gloss trappings of its source without getting a handle on its story or themes, The Secret Scripture is like a nicely decorated Craftsman home built on a foundation of Jell-O, with a toilet where the kitchen sink should be. It looks nice on first glance, but spend any time there, and things start to get messy. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 17, 2016
Sheridan’s take on the material is solidly made but sorely lacking in subtlety. Read full review
35
TheWrapSam FragosoSep 17, 2016
The ending of this movie is monumentally, historically, even catastophically bad. Its big reveal is so mind-numbingly asinine that it nearly retroactively erases any intelligence you may have had before watching this movie. Yes, it’s that agonizing. Read full review
25
The Film StageJordan RuimySep 17, 2016
The plot structure is convoluted and all-too familiar, leaving almost no trace of originality or curiosity at the table. Read full review
20
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonMay 15, 2017
So the cast is talented, the director has a decent track record and of course ‘The Secret Scripture’ looks pretty, in a picture-postcard sort of way. But the script is painful, not just horribly clichéd but trite, directionless and unaccountably pleased with itself. Read full review
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