• Network: Lifetime
  • Series Premiere Date: Dec 7, 2014
Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 12
  2. Negative: 1 out of 12
Watch Now

Where To Watch

Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

  1. Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    Dec 4, 2014
    80
    With Minnie Driver and Morena Baccarin as two of Jacob’s wives, and Debra Winger as Dinah’s blunt-speaking grandmother, the story is engaging both as untold Biblical fable and modern-day television.
  2. Reviewed by: Diane Garrett
    Dec 5, 2014
    70
    Ferguson's voiceover hits the holiday season sweet spot: Just sentimental enough. Frankly decorous sex scenes and brutal conditions for men and women help save The Red Tent from becoming overly cloying. It's got just enough red blood pulsing through it to avoid that.
  3. Reviewed by: Allison Keene
    Dec 4, 2014
    70
    It is at times charming and different, and a good fit for Lifetime. It just falls short of a higher calling.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Kat Ward
    Nov 26, 2014
    67
    The first half is soapy but enjoyable, anchored by Minnie Driver as Dinah's mom. But plot twists drag down the second act. [5 Dec 2014, p.77]
  5. Reviewed by: Robert Rorke
    Dec 3, 2014
    63
    The Red Tent would have benefited from more subtlety--hardly Lifetime’s stock-in-trade. Still, it is a major step up from the network’s usual fare of films.
  6. Reviewed by: Joanne Ostrow
    Dec 8, 2014
    60
    The film doesn't reinvent the Biblical fiction format but it is interesting enough to move you to read Diamant's take on ancient sisterhood.
  7. Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Dec 5, 2014
    60
    At times, you might mistake Lifetime's enjoyably earnest Biblical epic The Red Tent for an Old Testament version of Call the Midwife.
  8. Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Dec 4, 2014
    60
    The biblical setting provides an arresting backdrop for soapy material that otherwise falls squarely in Lifetime’s wheelhouse.
  9. Reviewed by: Sara Smith
    Dec 8, 2014
    50
    It’s a bit of a mess.... Between the issues of race, tribalism, rape and consent, The Red Tent covers more ground than expected.
  10. Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Dec 5, 2014
    50
    Fans of the novel will no doubt watch and revel in this relatively big-budget treatment. Others might find its pseudo-biblical, pseudo-feminist mix hard to take.
  11. Reviewed by: Sarah Rodman
    Dec 4, 2014
    40
    If it could be judged merely on the merits of its aspirations, The Red Tent would get two “you-go-girl!” snaps up. Unfortunately, how the miniseries turns those aspirations into drama leaves much to be desired over its four hours, stranding the viewer in a place as dry and desolate--and sometimes as confusing--as the desert inhabited by its characters.
  12. Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    Dec 8, 2014
    30
    Though chock-full of plot, it is decidedly short on dialogue, there is little narrative transition and, with a few very notable exceptions, no character development.