54
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The A.V. ClubThe A.V. ClubAlmereyda tackles one of the Bard’s lesser-regarded later works, the plot-heavy tragicomedy Cymbeline, and again unearths untold depths.
- 90SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirIf this willfully peculiar and daring Cymbeline isn’t to all tastes, it brings back the blood, the thrills and the sense of moral discovery to a long-neglected work.
- 70Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekVillage VoiceStephanie ZacharekThis Cymbeline is brash and inventive and more than a little wild. Perhaps we've been wrong about this play all along.
- 60VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeHaving learned a thing or two from Baz Luhrmann, Almereyda substitutes guns for daggers and picks his locations carefully, creating a rich, sultry-looking environment within which to stage the drama.
- 50Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenThe source material, which is convoluted even by Shakespeare's narratively dexterous standards, is admittedly a tough nut for a filmmaker to crack.
- 50The DissolveMike D'AngeloThe DissolveMike D'AngeloAlmereyda’s sweeping cuts take material that was already problematic (though this technically isn’t one of Shakespeare's “problem plays”) and render it almost nonsensical.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyAlmereyda puts together a slick-looking, well-paced package. But the central conceit simply doesn’t hang together well enough to create credible dramatic stakes, yielding an underpowered mashup of Sons of Anarchy with Game of Thrones.
- 40The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinAlmost nothing seems to click.
- 40CineVueJohn BleasdaleCineVueJohn BleasdaleIntermittently entertaining and laudably short, for all its best intentions Cymbeline is cursed by doing again what others have done better.
- 33The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangMichael Almereyda’s Cymbeline works best as a cautionary tale concerning the dangers of of believing that everything written by The Bard is “timeless.”