Winter's Tale
Warner Bros. | Release Date: February 14, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
31
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
17
Negative:
17
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 13, 2014
It is partly a failure, but mostly it succeeds, and the film's aspiration is so enormous that that's enough for a moving experience. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 13, 2014
Because it is fearlessly sincere and not totally successful, Winter's Tale is easy to mock. But it is also hard not to admire its willingness to go all out in its quest for the grandest of romantic gestures. Read full review
60
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekFeb 11, 2014
Winter's Tale, however imperfect, is that rare beast on the movie landscape: an unapologetic romance (for the first two-thirds, anyway), with attractive stars and special effects designed to give audiences something other than the experience of watching worlds get blown up. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 14, 2014
If only there was less mush and more meat in this stew. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 14, 2014
On a purely narrative level, Winter's Tale missteps early and often. Its earnestness is its downfall, resulting in opportunities for unintentional humor. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanFeb 13, 2014
That’s the problem with Winter’s Tale, which tries to cram too many conflicting stories into one space and ends up defying us to believe any. Call it magic unrealism, a well-intentioned but clunky genre. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigFeb 13, 2014
Lurching back and forth through time, Winter's Tale tries to blend the supernatural and the sentimental, with a synchronous nod to elements of New York history. But this would-be magical romance flounders, hitting only dissonant chords. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephanie MerryFeb 13, 2014
Winter’s Tale is ambitious with its otherworldly ingredients and temporal leaps. It’s not always a success, but the movie has one thing going for it: spot-on casting. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrFeb 13, 2014
Goldsman takes Helprin’s book — a work overflowing with events, ideas, characters, passions — and pounds away at it until all that’s left is mush. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFeb 13, 2014
Despite the actors, who at least get some swell clothes to wear, Winter's Tale is a bit of a soul-crusher itself. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie OgleFeb 13, 2014
Unfortunately there’s far too little magic in this clumsy attempt to marry fantasy and realism; the film doesn’t have the grace or imagination to bridge the gaps between the two. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyFeb 12, 2014
It's no coincidence that Winter's Tale is being released on Valentine's Day, when our resistance to schmaltz is at its weakest. But do that special someone in your life a favor and splurge on some flowers and a nice heart-shaped Russell Stover box instead. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzFeb 12, 2014
Earnest in its ambition but dopey in its execution, Winter’s Tale never takes flight. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreFeb 12, 2014
Winter’s Tale has no narrative drive and too little heart to come off. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellFeb 13, 2014
The process of Farrell figuring out his divine purpose finally gets so convoluted and schmaltzy, it feels less like "destiny" and more like "cruel cosmic joke." Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyFeb 12, 2014
Though viewers may have trouble watching any of this with a straight face, the movie’s goofy corniness becomes marginally endearing, in a hobbling-puppy sort of way. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerFeb 17, 2014
Corny and shakily plotted, it's a disappointing directorial debut from Goldsman. Read full review
40
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiFeb 13, 2014
It’s a greeting card of film, full of platitudes and pleasant imagery, and destined to be thrown in a drawer and forgotten in short order. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyFeb 14, 2014
Winter's Tale probably won't please anyone: neither fans of the book nor those who have never read it. It lacks visual splendor (except for one or two scenes). It lacks emotional depth. It lacks scope and magic. Read full review
36
Film.comKate ErblandFeb 14, 2014
Not every book should be made into a film and, as appears to be the case with Winter’s Tale, not every book can be (especially this one). Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 13, 2014
Mr. Goldsman, a first-time director though a veteran screenwriter, has been done in by the source material. Either he climbed aboard a horse that was too much for him, or the universe gave him a bum steer. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyFeb 12, 2014
Aspiring transcendent love stories don't come much more claptrappy and unconvincing than Winter's Tale. Read full review
30
VarietyJustin ChangFeb 12, 2014
The best miracles are those that creep up on you unexpectedly rather than endlessly announcing themselves, and the ones in Winter’s Tale are fatally obvious and self-congratulatory. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyFeb 13, 2014
It is sincerely, painstakingly and astonishingly awful. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 13, 2014
Winter’s Tale is a good old-fashioned train wreck of a film. This is one of those deals where all the ingredients are Grade A, but the final product is a dud. Read full review
25
New York PostLou LumenickFeb 13, 2014
Basically a much schmaltzier fantasy version of “Love Story.’’ Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedFeb 12, 2014
Movies get crazier and more incomprehensible every day, but you don’t know demented until you see Winter’s Tale. Read full review
20
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 26, 2014
The whole thing is so roaringly absurd, and delivered with such hands-clasped sincerity, that the only rational response is to laugh the house down. Read full review
20
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 13, 2014
A thin line separates the magical from the preposterous, and by insisting so strenuously on its own magic, Winter’s Tale pitches helplessly into earnest ridiculousness. Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 13, 2014
Since this marks the directorial debut of Hollywood hack Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind), there’s a heavy foot applied to the era-skipping leaps made by source novelist Mark Helprin. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanFeb 13, 2014
The whole movie hinges on the allegedly miraculous romance between Beverly and Peter, but Goldsman’s leads are distractingly mismatched and lack even a spark of chemistry. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineChris CabinFeb 13, 2014
Fantasy is heavily dependent on vision, which Mark Helprin had in spades, but the look of Akiva Goldsman's fantasy is limp, timid, and occasionally outright awkward. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeb 12, 2014
For those who haven’t read the Mark Helprin novel on which Akiva Goldsman’s film is based, prepare to be confused, annoyed, bewildered, and yet more annoyed by the director’s inability to construct even the most basic of narrative fantasy romances. Read full review
0
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 14, 2014
Winter's Tale is preposterous twaddle. Read full review
0
The PlaylistDrew TaylorFeb 12, 2014
The entire movie feels belabored, lumbering from one awful, over-dressed set piece to another. It's wrongheaded, it's horrendous, it's filled with lines of dialogue that are utter howlers, and yet, it's the type of movie that feels so confident that it really is something. It is, in fact, not. Read full review
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