Unfinished Song
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: June 21, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenJun 27, 2013
In the end, then, just Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp and those voices – their solos contain this picture like carved book-ends, vintage and lovely and still so profoundly of use. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 27, 2013
[Terence Stamp] and Vanessa Redgrave, as well as supporting actors Christopher Eccleston and Gemma Arterton, raise Paul Andrew Williams’s entry in the golden age genre from mawkish to genuinely heartwarming. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramJun 27, 2013
There’s not too much sentiment, but not too little, either. Just enough to make you feel misty-eyed in a way that doesn’t necessarily indicate incipient glaucoma. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 20, 2013
The movie works mostly because of the artistry of its stellar cast and heartfelt script by writer-director Paul Andrew Williams. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickJun 20, 2013
It’s not exactly giving away anything to reveal that Stamp also sings three numbers in Unfinished Song — the last one so stirring that you should bring at least one box of Kleenex. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 20, 2013
Stamp's award-caliber performance as a closed-off man on the brink of turning into stone is a miracle of subtlety and feeling. This is acting of the highest order. Redgrave partners him superbly, bringing warmth and nurturing humor to a role she refuses to play for easy tears. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedJun 18, 2013
Unfinished Song moves too slowly for its own good (mourning is doubly taxing in a country where it’s always raining), but it’s a great showcase for Terence Stamp. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJun 27, 2013
It’s predictable. It’s saccharine. It’s silly. It’s also, thanks to the consummate talents of Stamp and Redgrave, occasionally a joy. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 21, 2013
Here’s a valuable moviegoing rule: Just because you use up an entire handful of hankies doesn’t mean a movie’s great. But Stamp and Redgrave are the real deal. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 19, 2013
Unfinished Song is basically two movies inelegantly stuffed into one. Both are about aging — its setbacks and second chances — but only one of them feels like an honest exploration of the topic. The better half of the film is a kinder, gentler cousin to 2012’s "Amour." Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 5, 2013
The crescendo of two resonant careers makes the false notes of Unfinished Song forgivable. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJul 4, 2013
Unfinished Song is full of predictably poignant moments; you’d be lucky to survive the film dry-eyed. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaJun 28, 2013
At least audiences who hang in there will be rewarded with Arthur in concert doing a gravelly yet stirring version of Billy Joel's "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)". It's one of the rare instances when Unfinished Song achieves a heavenly state. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryJun 27, 2013
It’s worth a watch, if just for Stamp’s complex performance. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 27, 2013
There's something off in its scenes of Arterton's romantically unlucky loner showing up at Arthur's home, in the rain, distraught. If the movie weren't so determined to placate, you'd think you're in for a daring exploration of an affair between a 30-something emotional cripple and a 70-something sexy beast, unchained at last. Read full review
60
Village VoiceErnest HardyJun 18, 2013
Shamelessly manipulative, it's a highly effective if not very good film, its success entirely due to the talents of its cast. They bring heart to a script that is unabashedly about pushing buttons. Read full review
60
Time OutEric HynesJun 18, 2013
How the geriatric ensemble dramedy became the last bastion of British cinema is a bit of a riddle, but like Cadbury Creme Eggs and Manchester soul, it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 25, 2013
Manages a tear or two, and enough laughs to get by, even if from first scene to last the strain to stop just short of cloying shows. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJun 20, 2013
The movie, originally titled “Song for Marion,” has more emotional clout than you might reasonably expect from a piece of inspirational hokum. Read full review
50
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthJun 20, 2013
Comparatively simplistic and somewhat lazy, Unfinished Song presents one-dimensional characters in a thoroughly predictable story that aspires to be little more than easily digestible. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJul 25, 2013
Those who connected with "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" last year or the lesser "Quartet" earlier this year likely will find things to appreciate about Williams' film, given its similar senior citizen angle and general sense of niceness and decency. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJul 3, 2013
The gifted veterans, Redgrave and Stamp, manage to imbue their characters with personalities and physical bearings that transcend the stereotypical. But there’s little else that separates a film like this from the sing-your-heart-out self-actualizations of a teen show like "Glee." Read full review
40
NPRTomas HachardJun 20, 2013
Slowly but surely, Unfinished Song devolves into its premise's worst-case scenario: a generic portrait of suffering, resilience, grief and reconciliation that, even in its postscript dedication — "To Family" — can't reach beyond safe, all-encompassing but ultimately unsatisfying sentiments. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJun 19, 2013
Unfinished Song is a movie so geared toward hitting its spots, it amounts to emotional Muzak rather than something truly played live. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundJun 18, 2013
Part end-of-life romance, part grossly manipulative mush, the film tries to stare grief and mortality in the face while practically shitting rainbows. Read full review
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