Game Change
HBO | Release Date: March 10, 2012
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RedEyeCurt WagnerMar 9, 2012
Season 1 Review: Game Change is less about Palin than it is about this sad state of political affairs....That message made an impression, as did two amazing performances, beginning with Julianne Moore's uncanny and nuanced portrayal of Palin. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Game Change is graced by three extraordinary performances in the leading roles, beginning with Moore's portrayal of Palin, which is both complex and entirely credible. Read full review
100
NewsdayVerne GayMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: A luminous and fully alive portrait by a first-rate actress. Read full review
91
Uncle BarkyEd BarkMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: In the end, fans of well-paced political potboilers will find much to like about Game Change. As will those who simply want to be entertained by a crackling good melodrama. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerMar 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Jay Roach, who directed the Austin Powers films and won an Emmy for the HBO political drama Recount, knows from parody and keeps his actors from slipping into it. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Seeing Game Change is like living again through the campaign of 2008. Read full review
88
People WeeklyTom GliattoFeb 29, 2012
Season 1 Review: Comparisons to The Iron Lady, a sloppy movie that has Meryl Streep in roaring good form, are inevitable. Is Game Change better? You betcha. [5 Mar 2012, p.41]
80
Denver PostJoanne OstrowMar 9, 2012
Season 1 Review: While Moore's performance is riveting, the most insightful aspects of the tale are the insider reactions. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushMar 9, 2012
Season 1 Review: A searing, sizzlingly well acted docudrama. Read full review
80
SlateTroy PattersonMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: A brisk film extracted from the campaign-trail saga of that title--has delivered to Julianne Moore the meatiest role of her career. Read full review
80
Boston GlobeSarah RodmanMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Game Change is a compelling, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant dramatization of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Republican side of the 2008 presidential campaign. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAlessandra StanleyMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Ms. Palin dominates as a disarming egotist whose presumption is balanced by charisma and animal cunning--and in this film, as in life, she has the last smirk. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenMar 6, 2012
Season 1 Review: Filled with pulse-pounding, thriller-style music, Game Change is a thoroughly engrossing film made all the more compelling by Ms. Moore's performance. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanMar 1, 2012
Season 1 Review: The film isn't trying to break ground with revelations, so what it comes down to is whether Game Change is a good movie, as opposed to a balanced documentary. For the most part, it is. Read full review
75
USA TodayRobert BiancoMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: A star-studded, fast-moving, generally entertaining film about Sarah Palin. Read full review
75
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Moore's impersonation of Sarah Palin is the hook to reel you into HBO'S latest truelife political thriller. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: The overall atmosphere of the film is surprisingly kind to all, much more fatalistic than hypercritical and certainly not derisive. Read full review
70
Washington PostHank StueverMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Tiny flaws come close to undermining the success of Game Change as a mere film. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowryMar 2, 2012
Season 1 Review: Although Julianne Moore's uncanny mimicry of Palin's verbal tics will surely attract praise, the movie revolves around an equally compelling performance by Woody Harrelson as GOP strategist and campaign operative Steve Schmidt. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzMar 12, 2012
Season 1 Review: The movie is better than you've heard but not good enough to linger in the mind. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: It takes a story whose outline we know and uses backstage access to turn it into a well-paced drama. Read full review
50
HitfixAlan SepinwallMar 9, 2012
Season 1 Review: My problem with the film is that it's all surface. Read full review
40
TimeJames PoniewozikMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: The movie seems to want to make a larger point about modern politics from the way Palin's nomination was used by the flagging McCain campaign--as a shiny object to "change the narrative" and shift the buzz from Barack Obama--but the movie itself gets distracted by its own shiny object, Palin. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Truth be told, Game Change does not make anyone look good. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 8, 2012
Season 1 Review: Roach's bland style and Strong's script never allow for anything to come of such challenging subjects, opting instead for uninventive hindsight. Read full review
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