52
Metascore
41 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumStreep is a pleasure to behold; less so the rest of The Iron Lady.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMeryl Streep gives a fully realized portrait of British Prime Minister Thatcher in a biopic that values character over context.
- 63Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundSlant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundThe wonder and terror of Meryl Streep's performance in The Iron Lady is her formidable ability to nail the disheartening talents of not just Margaret Thatcher, but so many conservative politicians like her, who have a tremendous knack for changing minds and beckoning cheers while underlining their own rigid ignorance.
- 50VarietyLeslie FelperinVarietyLeslie FelperinFuzzy-headed biopic, which glosses over the former British prime minister's politics in favor of a glib, breakneck whirl around her career and marriage.
- Where the actress succeeds, all but disappearing into the role of Thatcher, the rest of the film is a bizarre amalgamation of archival footage, half-baked montages, hallucinations that push the bounds of poetic license straight into the gray area of bad taste, and plain old tedium.
- 50The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyThis bio-pic, written by Abi Morgan and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, is an oddly unsettled compound of glorification and malice. It whirts around restlessly and winds up nowhere. [2 Jan. 2012, p.78]
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceDespite the story's conceit of placing the viewer inside Thatcher's head, she never feels like a real person - but this is more the fault of Morgan's script than Streep's typically studied performance, much of it buried under prosthetics.
- 42The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonThe A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonStrangely, this Thatcher biopic might have been far more worthwhile if it wasn't about Thatcher: The aged, dotty stranger hanging out with her dead husband is a more compelling subject.
- 40Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThis iron lady of cinema deserves better.