Brideshead Revisited

The Onion (A.V. Club) Sam Adams

It's rare to find a work that explores issues of faith without veering into religious fundamentalism or militant atheism, which is reason enough to revisit Brideshead one more time.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It shifts the focus from Charles and Sebastian's youthful idyll to the stronger, more provocative relationship between Charles and Julia, wherein lies Waugh's concerns with materialism and velvet-gloved dual grip of family and religion.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's a great piece of work in a movie that, whatever its failings, deserves to be seen even if you swear undying allegiance to the BBC mini-series.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

You could wish for more, but for that there's still the epic-length miniseries. If you want just two hours of mournful, lovely melodrama of manners, this is a fine choice.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Offers lush and compelling drama drawn from Evelyn Waugh's beloved novel. Purists may blanch at the screenplay's changes to the source material's narrative fine points, but its spirit survives intact.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

The film, a distinctly secular take on Waugh's religiosity, is far more interested in the battle of blind faith vs. rigid unbelief and its devastating effects. Herein, everyone is complicated – by their station, their philosophy, their God – and everyone is complicit.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Often powerful, though presented throughout with British understatement.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

There are times when Brideshead Revisited shows its seams. For those with an affinity for this kind of movie - and you know whether this applies to you - Brideshead Revisited is a worthy, although not superior, motion picture.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The film is plush and passionate and graced with elegant performances. Best is that of Emma Thompson as Brideshead's matriarch, Lady Marchmain, who resembles a cross between Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Overnuanced, a world of delicate cruelty, where most of the wounds take place without breaking the skin or even a sweat.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The saga ultimately lacks the emotional wallop of the TV version. But its clever writing, strong performances and sumptuous production design make for a rich experience nonetheless.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

While elegantly mounted and well acted, the movie is not the equal of the TV production, in part because so much material had to be compressed into such a shorter time. It is also not the equal of the recent film "Atonement," which in an oblique way touches on similar issues.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The one performer who seems at home with the gravity of it all is Emma Thompson.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

The real question is whether the film moves the "Brideshead" ball down the playing field in any meaningful way since the acclaimed miniseries. And I'd have to say that it doesn't so much advance it as it shrinks it into a golf-ball-size nugget.

NPR Bob Mondello

This is a world of dinner jackets and evening gowns, casual jaunts to Venice and Morocco; it's about elegance, style, money and perhaps too heady a mix of drink, religion and intrigue.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Though I can imagine Waugh rolling his eyes at the very idea of Brideshead Revisited as "a heartbreaking romantic epic," this remake is, often inadvertently, closer to the novel's spirit than the sepulchral television series, albeit still not half as waggishly Waugh-ish as "Bright Young Things," Stephen Fry's delightfully naughty interpretation of "Vile Bodies."

Newsweek David Ansen

The remarkable thing about Jarrold's movie is how much of the book it manages to capture.

Time Richard Schickel

Brideshead Revisited is untaxing, pleasant enough to watch. But I'm still waiting to be seriously discomfited by it.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Bound to seem, at best, a kind of CliffsNotes guide to the novel's highlights, especially if the casting is not all that inspired.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The new film seems a little nervous about the religious content; it's more interested in the swoony bits between Charles and Julia.

New York Post Kyle Smith

As familiar as the costumes and decoration are, the conflicts are unsettlingly vivid and strange.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

This new Brideshead Revisted, though imperfectly revised, is not entirely regrettable.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

That the film is neither a true triumph nor a total disaster makes it somewhat difficult to justify revisiting "Brideshead," apart from the hope it will inspire someone somewhere to pick up the book.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Although it has its involving moments, the watered-down Waugh fails to make any kind of lasting connection.

Chicago Reader Albert Williams

Julian Jarrold's adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel isn't entirely faithful, but it conveys the book's universal themes.

San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand

A very noble movie, which makes it interesting at times, but not often enough.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The film plays fast and loose with the book, until its emotional depths, spiritual conflicts, and Waugh's discreet humor have been wrung out.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Jarrold's reduction of the story is so archetypal that it's indistinguishable from soap opera.

Empire Angie Errigo

Okay for those who dote on ‘classics illustrated’ in the Merchant Ivory line, but not as fluid as all that.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Mr. Goode shows all the charisma of a stalk of boiled asparagus molded into the likeness of Jeremy Irons.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

May feel especially like a statue covered in drapery. Unfortunately, the movie's attempts to steam things up feel about as exciting as an after-dinner mint.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The world didn't need a superficial big-screen adaptation of a rich, dense book that's about, among many other things, the passage of time. The perplexity is why the film is so lifeless and remote.