Wild Mountain Thyme
Bleecker Street | Release Date: December 11, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
16
Negative:
6
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinDec 10, 2020
Writer-director John Patrick Shanley’s old-fashioned, at times transporting, romantic comedy Wild Mountain Thyme has a lot going for it, which makes it a shame that it’s not a wholly stronger film. That said, as a stress-free chance to take in the lush, gorgeously green Irish countryside, you could do worse. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireDec 14, 2020
Everyone’s so handsome and there are SO many cozy sweaters and clunky boots to enjoy on those rainy days. But these characters are barely more than a collection of quirks, and the thing that’s keeping them from being together forever has got to be the most ridiculous of all contrivances. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 14, 2020
Wild Mountain Thyme is the kind of film you want to love, just as you want these two characters to fall in love, and it’s simultaneously exasperating and original that they don’t go about their courtship in the usual fashion. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisDec 11, 2020
The two leads are watchable enough, but the script keeps their characters emotionally separated, so you never see anything remotely like chemistry between them. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 10, 2020
Wild Mountain Thyme is not a good movie. Rather, it’s one that believes so deeply and joyously in its potted romantic Oirishness that the audience doesn’t have to. Read full review
42
Original-CinLinda BarnardDec 23, 2020
Oh, but they’re a quirky lot, so they are, in Wild Mountain Thyme, which arrives December 22 stuffed with blarney, Irish clichés, and a head-scratcher of a plot about an odd yet spectacularly attractive pair who just can’t seem to get their romantic act together. Read full review
42
The Film StageGlenn Heath Jr.Dec 10, 2020
Can’t decide if it wants to be a countryside farce, magical realist parable, or eccentric romantic comedy. So it tries to be all three at once. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJessica KiangDec 10, 2020
Speaking from personal experience as a fictional creature made of three-parts shamrock, two-parts rainbow, and one-part outdoor plumbing, I can tell you “Wild Mountain Thyme” is a very accurate portrait of modern Irish colleen/gombeen relationships. ‘Tis true, we none of us own a computer or a mobile phone (the air’s so thick with faeries and Catholicism that you can’t get decent Wifi anyway). Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeDec 9, 2020
Take away the gorgeous setting, however, and you’re left with a romantic comedy that’s never romantic and only occasionally funny. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 9, 2020
Shanley, whose script for “Moonstruck” suggests that he once had a slightly tighter handle on this sort of thing, brings his play “Outside Mullingar” to the screen like he’s trying to fill every close-up with enough whimsical enchantment to reach the back row of a Broadway theater. The lethal intensity of this effect cannot be overstated; the only logical explanation for what happened here is that someone planted a bomb in Shanley’s editing bay and timed it to explode if any cut of Wild Mountain Thyme dipped below 50 kilohertz of cartoon Irish charm per minute. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansMay 2, 2021
Shanley has an Oscar and a Pulitzer (he wrote the sublime Moonstruck, and the stage and screen versions of Doubt). Here, that’s easy to forget, given the cartoon accents and overblown metaphors about horses destined to jump the fence. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 30, 2021
There’s a sublime awfulness and condescension to this American vision of Ireland, adapted by writer-director John Patrick Shanley from his Broadway stage hit: a mind-boggling stew of bizarre paddywhackery that makes John Ford’s The Quiet Man look like a documentary about crack dealers. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerApr 28, 2021
It’s not just that Wild Mountain Thyme is bogged down by overripe Irish trappings. It also fails to work on the most basic romcom level — wanting to see a couple get together. Sadly, not even a strong cast can rescue a pot of gold from the end of this rainbow. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennyDec 10, 2020
It is also a romantic comedy/drama whose tone ping-pongs from grave to lyrical to absurdist willy-nilly, and hits all those registers at fortissimo volume. Read full review
40
Screen DailyAllan HunterDec 9, 2020
In the end, Wild Mountain Thyme fails to make the most of its cast or fairytale story and feels slightly misbegotten. Read full review
40
The GuardianAdrian HortonDec 9, 2020
It’s a visually verdant but emotionally flat film whose confusing friction between two miscast leads frustrates rather than engrosses. Read full review
More From This Movie

42 Critic Reviews

5.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL