Vera Drake: Critic Reviews

50%

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

92%

RottenTomatoes: 159 reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

92

You can almost smell the damp wool and feel the worn china teacups of an exhausted 1950s London in Mike Leigh's stunning and compassionate period drama Vera Drake.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Manohla Dargis New York Times (Top Critic)

100

Vera Drake, a film about a back-street abortionist in 1950 London, is the English director Mike Leigh's best work in a decade.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Mike Clark USA Today (Top Critic)

100

This is the kind of people-driven story that the movies used to give us -- before special effects took over.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

A carefully calibrated parable that quietly sneaks into your heart and prods it sharply.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

88

Heartbreaking.
Full Review » 8 years ago
J. Hoberman Village Voice (Top Critic)

Building up to a shattering conclusion, Leigh's movie is both outrageously schematic and powerfully humanist.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Jami Bernard New York Daily News (Top Critic)

100

Vera Drake is perfect down to the last detail.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Eric Harrison Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

100

One of Leigh's better movies.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

84

Ms. Staunton is remarkable in the lead role.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Lisa Kennedy Denver Post (Top Critic)

88

[The movie] can break your heart.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Peter Rainer New York Magazine (Top Critic)

The film moves assuredly from incident to incident in a way that makes it seem old-fashioned, but pleasingly so.
Full Review » 8 years ago
David Denby New Yorker (Top Critic)

The movie is all of a piece, and its discipline is part of its meaning.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

100

A film of pitch-perfect, seemingly effortless performances.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

100

A prime example of how genuine drama terrifies and uplifts us. It also reveals how controversial subjects can seem fresh and new in the hands of a master director and a great ensemble cast.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

88

Staunton is heartbreakingly fine.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

100

We often praise actors for putting themselves inside the skins and souls of others, but it's a rare performer who becomes a character so uncannily and convincingly that she seems to vanish into the role.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

67

Staunton is brilliant as Vera.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Richard Nilsen Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

80

All the actors so completely fade away that you come out of the film thinking you've seen the real people, not players reciting a script.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Andrew Sarris New York Observer (Top Critic)

Boo, hiss and all that -- but I can report that the film left me only vaguely depressed and nothing more.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Rex Reed New York Observer (Top Critic)

Despite the honest, penetrating and open-faced presence of the distinguished Imelda Staunton in the title role, the film is something of an ordeal.
Full Review » 8 years ago
David Rooney Variety (Top Critic)

While the drama is emotionally harrowing it's also riveting, profoundly affecting and observed with a real generosity of spirit.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Lou Lumenick New York Post (Top Critic)

88

Vera Drake confirms Leigh's reputation as one of the world's master filmmakers -- and showcases Staunton as one of its great actresses.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

100

With Vera Drake, [Leigh] has made his most controversial and accessible work
Full Review » 7 years ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

80

Arguably Leigh's finest achievement, its sole flaw being the too-perfect depiction of Vera -- no fault of Staunton's, who must surely be considered for Oscar recognition.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

88

Gripping film.
Full Review » 8 years ago