The Queen: Critic Reviews

100%

MovieWeb: 3 reviews

97%

RottenTomatoes: 187 reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

84

Mirren conjures Elizabeth as an identifiable flesh-and-blood wife, mother, grandmother, and woman with a job to do.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Manohla Dargis New York Times (Top Critic)

90

Stephen Frears' sublimely nimble evisceration of the British royal family pries open a window in the House of Windsor around the time of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Peter Bradshaw Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

80

This is, after all, a period movie that leaves you with a feeling of sadness at how little has changed.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

100

A fascinating character study and a brilliantly crafted drama. It has some of the wittiest writing in recent memory and spot-on performances.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

Mirren's finely calibrated performance reveals a complex woman coping with a bewildering world, and Blair's growing sympathy for his beleaguered monarch gradually becomes ours.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

100

A subtle, often very funny, ultimately touching tragedy of royal manners and meaning.
Full Review » 6 years ago
J. Hoberman Village Voice (Top Critic)

Whether or not Tony Blair actually saved the British monarchy, Frears has made it seem so and even worth doing.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Jack Mathews New York Daily News (Top Critic)

88

All this might make for a better book than a movie if it weren't for the subtle brilliance of Mirren's performance.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Joe Morgenstern Wall Street Journal (Top Critic)

Marvelously smart, funny and entertaining.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Bruce Westbrook Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

88

We see not only the inner corridors of power, but also sense the inner workings of the royal mind. Stephen Frears' deft direction also gives the film insight and even humor.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Michael Booth Denver Post (Top Critic)

100

This imperial mix of wit, humor and compassion manages to humanize at once the prickly worlds of royalty, politics and popular culture.
Full Review » 6 years ago
David Edelstein New York Magazine (Top Critic)

The Queen is the most reverent irreverent comedy imaginable. Or maybe it's the most irreverent reverent comedy. Either way, it's a small masterpiece.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Anthony Lane New Yorker (Top Critic)

How could Frears and his cast rise above the sins of the miniseries? One answer is the force of that cast.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

100

Told in quiet scenes of proper behavior and guarded speech, The Queen is a spellbinding story of opposed passions.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

88

It's a buoyant mixture of deft, lightly impudent high comedy and human-scaled drama.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

100

Brilliant as Morgan's script is, it is Helen Mirren's diamond-hard performance that is the jewel of The Queen's crown.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Jeff Strickler Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

100

Helen Mirren takes a character that most of the world sees as insular and stalwart -- Britain's reigning Queen Elizabeth -- and turns her into a real-life human being with flaws and foibles.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

92

Borne with grace and honor on the back of Helen Mirren's astounding title performance, The Queen manages to encompass the personal and political with both depth and grace.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Bill Muller Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

80

Smartly relevant and affecting, commenting not only on the isolation of the monarchy but also on a tabloid culture run wild.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Andrew Sarris New York Observer (Top Critic)

The Queen is not difficult, [but] it is sufficiently and, yes, marvelously artistic...
Full Review » 6 years ago
Rex Reed New York Observer (Top Critic)

When I think what sentimental tripe The Queen could have been in the hands of amateurs, I bow in gratitude to all concerned.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Derek Elley Variety (Top Critic)

Tradition and informality collide -- and mutually benefit -- in the deliciously written and expertly played The Queen.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

100

Mirren is the one to beat for the Best Actress Oscar -- and The Queen is one of the year's best movies. Don't miss it.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

100

In good times and bad, for good or ill, she is the public face of her nation. Mirren, Frears and Morgan let us see just how much a burden that mask has been.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

100

Frears masterfully combines archival news footage with stellar performances from an outstanding cast, led by Mirren in a title role that demands Oscar glory.
Full Review » 6 years ago