Wild
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: December 3, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
42
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 19, 2014
There are other movies out this year that are more technically ambitious than Wild (I'm thinking "Birdman.") There are others that are wider-reaching in scope and sheer audacity (the 12-years-in-the-making "Boyhood"). But there aren't any others that offer the power and profundity of Wild. This movie is a gift. It's also a journey. Read full review
100
ObserverRex ReedDec 3, 2014
It’s one of the year’s most galvanizing cinematic experiences. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyTina JordanDec 6, 2014
Vallée has taken a contemplative book where, frankly, very little happens and transformed it into a gut-punching drama. Read full review
91
HitfixDrew McWeenySep 2, 2014
Witherspoon does really uncompromising work here, playing Cheryl without any hesitancy or any fear or any ego. It's not a glamorous role, and she doesn't try to make Cheryl seem perfect, and she doesn't sand off this woman's rough edges. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 2, 2014
In its thrilling disregard for the conventions of commercial cinematic storytelling, Wild reveals what some of us have long suspected: that plot is the enemy of truth, and that images and emotions can carry meaning more effectively than neatly packaged scenes or carefully scripted character arcs. Read full review
90
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekDec 2, 2014
Both the material and the setting seem to have shaken something loose in Witherspoon (who is also one of the movie's producers): She's moved further away from those uptight, humorless romantic-comedy cuties she played in the mid 2000s and more toward the breezy, blunt, self- determined characters of her early career. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldConnie OgleDec 18, 2014
Wild may sound like a film about redemption, but it’s more about learning to live with what you can’t control — and accepting what you can control, which is sometimes just as difficult. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Geoff PevereDec 4, 2014
It’s a movie in which you can feel the spirit of the material infusing the filmmaker both as an artist and as a human being, and what results is that thing that occurs when even the simplest of songs sends sparks to the soul. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 4, 2014
As for Witherspoon, there’s not a shred of her America’s Sweetheart persona in this work. She strips naked, literally and otherwise, in a raw, brave performance. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 4, 2014
Translating solitary musings, raw despondency and personal enlightenment into arresting visuals is a substantial feat and novelist/screenwriter Nick Hornby was the perfect choice to convert the fascinating book into a lively script. Read full review
88
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDec 2, 2014
As he did with “The Dallas Buyers’ Club,” director Jean-Marc Vallée covers this inner and outer journey with a minimum of fuss. The flashbacks and their revelations, filling in the puzzle, are sparingly doled out. The stunning scenery Cheryl hikes through is barely noticed. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 18, 2014
This is a performance without ego or modesty, for a character without self-respect, played by Witherspoon as unvarnished as any pampered movie star can be expected. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianJamie S. RichDec 12, 2014
The best stuff in Wild is the simplest. The movie is at its strongest when it's just Strayed out in the wilderness, seeing what there is to see and finding the strength to keep going. Witherspoon is excellent in the lead, delivering a contemplative performance and appearing comfortable with just being by herself. Read full review
82
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeDec 2, 2014
For director Jean-Marc Vallée, the film's smarts and soulfulness give him a leap upward from “Dallas Buyers Club” that puts him head-to-head with Tate Taylor (“Get On Up”) as 2014's Most Improved Filmmaker. The other big surprise of Wild turns out to be Reese Witherspoon, going far from her usual comfort zone here. Read full review
81
Film.comJames RocchiSep 2, 2014
Heartfelt and haunting, sympathetic while still aware of the limits of sympathy, Wild incorporates beautiful direction, smart writing and brave acting. Read full review
80
Total FilmSimon KinnearJan 15, 2015
Driven by a committed turn from Witherspoon, Jean-Marc Vallée confirms himself as the go-to director for triumph-over-adversity character studies. Read full review
80
EmpireNev PierceJan 12, 2015
A quietly moving coming of age story that resists formula or easy redemption, driven by a strong, unvarnished performance from Witherspoon, who deserves huge credit as both star and producer. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 4, 2014
Witherspoon is an outstanding actress whose material doesn't always fit her talents. "Wild" meanders a bit, in its trips from present to past and back, but Witherspoon remains the constant, doing what sounds simple enough but proves so difficult: soldiering on. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 3, 2014
The soundtrack is extraordinary. Songs from the Shangri-Las, Simon & Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Portishead, and many others drift in and out, sometimes taken up by Strayed as she heads into the scrubby landscape toward a mountain a long way away. The fragmentation is remarkably fluid. The pieces are all of a piece. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 3, 2014
Though there are occasional stumbles along the 1,100-mile hike, the peaks in Wild make the journey more than worth it. Read full review
80
The GuardianHenry BarnesSep 10, 2014
Vallée, in collaboration with screenwriter Nick Hornby, gives the film its energy by pulling the narrative apart. They create a two-hour hallucinatory montage of the hike and Cheryl's back story that's wound together with the songs, phrases and poetry that she recited to herself as she walked. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 10, 2014
Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée has followed up one big, awardsy film from last year (Dallas Buyers Club) with another at lightning speed. That was a braver film, but it's the spaciousness of this one that distinguishes it from being just another mechanically pre-ordained adversity narrative.
80
VarietyJustin ChangSep 2, 2014
While Wild will surely be praised in the coming months for having a strong, well-written, flesh-and-blood female at its center, it’s to the film’s credit that it wears this badge of honor with a lightness that in no way undermines its sincerity. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesDec 10, 2014
Wild lands some hard punches, but it can’t sustain the impact. Some of that lies in its inherited arc: Strayed found some peace – the whole point of the trek – but arriving-at-peace is less provocative than the struggle, at least in a movie. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 12, 2014
Something about the way the film has been assembled doesn't feel altogether organic. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 11, 2014
Where Wild disappoints is in the didactic, show-and-tell approach of Vallée’s direction and of the screenplay. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 11, 2014
While the wilderness vistas are starkly beautiful, there’s no tangible sense of Strayed’s ultimate goal. (Why Oregon?) And the flashbacks, which include scenes of sexual misadventure and heroin use, are too brief to provide answers. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 7, 2014
While Cheryl's journey is interesting, it isn't as compelling as the one embarked upon by Christopher McCandless (Into the Wild). The most arresting aspect of Wild isn't Cheryl's perambulation along the 1000-mile long Pacific Crest Trail but the memories that percolate to the surface as flashbacks. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 4, 2014
Too much of Wild is broken up by flashbacks that tend to dissipate rather than enhance Strayed’s trek. At times she is swallowed up almost to the point of vanishing by the immensity of the vistas. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 4, 2014
Wild has so many things in its favor that it’s tempting to leave out the fact that it’s a movie about a hike that sometimes feels like being on a hike, a long one, without many changes of scenery. But the movie’s achievement is that it overcomes this. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 4, 2014
Like the Danny Boyle film version of "127 Hours," Wild is extremely nervous about boring its audience with its protagonist's aloneness. Still, Witherspoon and Dern are reason enough to see it. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloDec 3, 2014
People tend to equate great acting with demonstrative emoting, but knowing when not to telegraph what a character is feeling is just as crucial. Sometimes, walking from point A to point Z — simply, without fuss — is all that’s required. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 3, 2014
Under the keen-eyed direction of Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club), Wild emerges as an exciting, elemental adventure that takes you places you don't see coming. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickDec 3, 2014
Laura Dern — only nine years older than Witherspoon’s fresh-faced 38 — could also net a Best Supporting Actress nod for her outstanding work as Cheryl’s spunky and nurturing mothe. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaDec 3, 2014
Witherspoon tries, even doing her first-ever nude scenes, to convince us she has hit the skids. Yet no matter how greasy her hair or how dead her eyes, I just can’t buy her as a self-destructive junkie. Read full review
70
SlateDana StevensDec 4, 2014
For most of Wild, we’re alone with Cheryl’s stark aloneness with herself. That’s a fine place to be. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 4, 2014
This screen adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s autobiographical best-seller is burdened, out of fidelity to the book, with life lessons and unneeded explanations that it dispenses, like CliffsNotes, at every opportunity. Read full review
70
The DissolveScott TobiasDec 3, 2014
Cheryl is a thoroughly realized, warts-and-all character, and the flashbacks contribute to that. But like their heroine, the filmmakers do some fumbling to get to their destination. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberSep 2, 2014
Vallee’s latest offering is alternately harrowing and heartbreaking, but laced with saving bursts of humor. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnSep 2, 2014
Witherspoon excels as a committed figure battling through each rough day. So long as the action remains on the trail, Vallée stages an engaging survivalist tale that plays up the resolve on Witherspoon's face, complemented with the rich visuals of an expansive landscape. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 4, 2014
Wild is an accomplished movie, and often a beautiful and moving one, but the woman at its center remains warily at arm’s length. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris CabinDec 2, 2014
Director Jean-Marc Vallée has created a film out of Cheryl Strayed's beloved 2012 memoir that never quite matches the blunt audacity of its simple title. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 3, 2014
Unfortunately for us, Dern — only seen in flashback — isn’t the main character. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 2, 2014
You may admire Witherspoon’s solid performance, but you won’t forget you’re watching a star. Read full review
60
The New YorkerDavid DenbyDec 1, 2014
The scenery, of course, could stop the heart of a mountain goat, and Wild has an admirable heroine, but the movie itself often feels literal-minded rather than poetic, busy rather than sublime, eager to communicate rather than easily splendid. Read full review
42
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 2, 2014
Wild never really earns its hard-fought struggle for redemption and personal reinvention. Read full review
30
SalonAndrew O'HehirDec 4, 2014
Wild is a Hollywood holiday movie "based on a true story," meaning that its view of reality is conditioned by the three-act structure and the pop-Christian teleology of sin and repentance. Read full review
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