Philomena - Movie Reviews (2024)

Judi Dench's greatest screen performance...

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 30, 2023

While several dramatic liberties were taken with the actual true account, most of them help make this a better film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 24, 2022

The restrained realism and depth of the melodrama are perfectly balanced, altogether avoiding what could have easily become schmaltzy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 19, 2022

Transcends its roots as a class study, becoming instead a poignant and funny story of forgiveness and the true nature of love.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 1, 2021

It's a brooding mystery that focuses more on studying characters than unearthing clues.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 4, 2020

It features a deeply felt and gripping performance from Judi Dench.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 20, 2020

Besides Dench's fierce eyes, the most interesting part of Philomena is watching the picture of the lost son unfold as the buddy-cop pairing of Dench and Coogan ferret out his life story.

Full Review | Jan 8, 2020

[A] story that took a lifetime, will now touch your heart for a lifetime.

Full Review | Jan 7, 2020

It's intelligently written and genuinely performed, even if the film is rather visually banal.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 29, 2019

Philomena is kind of a tough sell. It's not a feel-good holiday picture or a tour-de-force acting showcase destined to be christened with Oscar kisses. All the movie has to offer is the fact that it's really, really good.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Aug 27, 2019

Director Stephen Frears overplays his hand occasionally, but the film is balanced by some fine performances and a delicate script by Coogan.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 4, 2019

Surprisingly harrowing at times, the film avoids becoming an overwrought melodrama through the balance in characterisation between Martin's cynicism and Philomena's faith.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 7, 2019

Ultimately, Philomena is a film about faith, family and and forgiveness, making it perfect holiday viewing.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 17, 2019

The film's tone is bittersweet, with Philomena's deep-seated regret propelling the duo's journey forward at a gentle glide.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.4/10 | Apr 9, 2019

Philomena is another Oscar-nominated film which features an older woman, and it left me frustrated...

Full Review | Mar 14, 2019

Give Dame Judi the damn Oscar

Full Review | Mar 6, 2019

Dench is undoubtedly Philomena's shining light, pouring warmth and heart into the film's remorse-racked heroine. Unfortunately, however, neither Coogan nor his script prove anything like her equals.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 6, 2019

Because the tale is so inherently emotional with its subject matter, all you need is a competent director and a couple of crack actors to wheedle that trajectory out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 1, 2019

Philomena encompasses so much so adroitly -- it really is a remarkable story -- that we can admire its structure as a film, even as we absorb its sometimes startling facts and as we truly feel for its people.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 19, 2019

The humor is forced and awkward, and the film struggles with the message it is trying to send.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 3, 2018