Hyde Park on Hudson
Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 41 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 41
  3. Negative: 4 out of 41
view
per page
  1. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    Dec 4, 2012
    100
    In beauty, tone, technical achievement and cinematic artistry on every level, Hyde Park on Hudson is a movie unto itself - funny, believable, historic and hugely entertaining.
  2. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    Dec 13, 2012
    88
    Murray and Linney are terrific together (and apart), their notes pitch perfect, and the supporting cast is good all around.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Dec 12, 2012
    88
    This isn't a serious historical film. It plays different instruments than Spielberg's "Lincoln." Murray, who has a wider range than we sometimes realize, finds the human core of this FDR and presents it tenderly.
  4. NPR
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    Dec 7, 2012
    85
    This hugely entertaining movie is about the wisdom and - with trenchant wit and sympathy - the human flaws in one of America's most idealized heads of state.
  5. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    Dec 14, 2012
    75
    As for Daisy, her inflated role is problematic. Although at the periphery of the action, the woman stands at the centre of the film, doubling as the compromised love interest and our voice-over narrator. But even Linney can't bring her to life.
  6. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    Dec 7, 2012
    75
    Half as long and twice as much fun as the self-important "Lincoln," Roger Michell's charming sex-and-politics comedy Hyde Park on Hudson is basically a frothy tabloid take on presidential history. And for my money, that's a good thing in a season filled with puffed-up prestige pictures.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    Dec 6, 2012
    70
    Though he has competition, especially from the folks playing the visiting royals, Murray is very much the reason to see "Hyde Park."
  8. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    Sep 13, 2012
    70
    Bill Murray as FDR? It takes a few minutes to get used to, but once he settles into the role of the 32nd president, the idiosyncratic comic actor does a wonderfully jaunty job of it in Hyde Park on Hudson.
  9. Tampa Bay Times
    Reviewed by: Steve Persall
    Jan 2, 2013
    67
    The movie finds its humor in the royals' shock at Hyde Park's lacking decorum, and a hint of FDR's political savvy.
  10. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    Dec 13, 2012
    67
    Unfortunately, the movie isn't a real success, as director Roger Michell ("Notting Hill") is both too ambitious in the story he tries to tell and not ambitious enough in the way he tells it.
  11. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    Dec 7, 2012
    67
    It's never altogether clear why this visually blah and dramatically bland movie needed to be made at all (or why it wasn't made for television instead). The only answer I can come up with is that Murray wanted to show off with a cigarette-holder.
  12. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    Jan 4, 2013
    63
    Atmospheric, well-acted, pointless story.
  13. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Dec 14, 2012
    63
    There's an alliance of interesting stories fighting for dominance here, but instead of a clear victory, Hyde Park on Hudson is the site of a muddled truce.
  14. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    Dec 13, 2012
    63
    The problem with Hyde Park on Hudson isn't its suggestion of FDR's dark side. That complexity, and Murray's spot-on portrayal of a man juggling myriad pressures and demands, from petty to momentous, marks one of the film's greatest strengths. It's that Daisy rarely comes into her own as more than the pliant emotional helpmeet to the Great Man.
  15. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    Dec 13, 2012
    63
    The music's the best thing ... But it isn't enough to lift this middlebrow, middleweight and middling project ... above its misjudgments and limitations.
  16. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    Dec 5, 2012
    63
    Instead of focusing on FDR as a president, this movie gives up half its length to tawdry soap opera.
  17. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    Dec 6, 2012
    60
    Mr. Murray gives a fascinating performance, even though his FDR was conceived and written as a fairly small guy at the center of a small film that, for all its considerable charm, miniaturizes its hero in the process of humanizing him.
  18. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Dec 6, 2012
    60
    Some of Hyde Park on Hudson feels like lost scenes from "The King's Speech," the 2010 Oscar-winner about King George. It doesn't help that "Hyde's" own rhythms, appealing as they are, are often soporific.
  19. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Alan Scherstuhl
    Dec 4, 2012
    60
    For stretches of the film, he (Murray) is enough to recommend Hyde Park on Hudson, especially as he toys with his houseguests, England's King George (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman).
  20. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Keith Uhlich
    Dec 4, 2012
    60
    Hyde Park could have been fawningly ponderous; that it's merely an airy trifle puts it a cut above the usual Oscar bait.
  21. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Pete Hammond
    Dec 4, 2012
    60
    A competent period costume drama, this intimate character study is light as air - and probably more suited to Masterpiece Theatre than as a major theatrical release.
  22. Total Film
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    Oct 17, 2012
    60
    More a "King's Speech" footnote than a sequel, Park only flies when Bill's centre stage. We're curious to see how it fares against "Lincoln," the award season's other presidential hopeful.
  23. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Catherine Shoard
    Sep 13, 2012
    60
    Sometimes a film takes your breath away by dint of its brilliance. Sometimes it's on account of its ineptitude. And just occasionally, it's for its shamelessness. Hyde Park on Hudson, for all its captivating shots of cornfields and estimable performances, is the latter.
  24. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    Dec 5, 2012
    58
    Hyde Park On Hudson once again finds "Meatballs" star Bill Murray leading a populist, crowd-pleasing slobs-vs.-snobs comedy, but this time, his role as Roosevelt reflects his status as a silver-haired heavyweight thespian.
  25. Movie Nation
    Reviewed by: Roger Moore
    Jan 30, 2013
    50
    The movie hinges on Murray's turn as FDR, and frankly, he comes up wanting.
  26. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    Dec 13, 2012
    50
    The only way Bill Murray could seem less like Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson is if the movie showed him winning a marathon.
  27. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    Dec 10, 2012
    50
    The actors can't perform miracles. Hot dogs are served in the final scene, but trust me, Hyde Park on Hudson is no picnic.
  28. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    Dec 7, 2012
    50
    Hyde Park on Hudson has little more on its mind than hot dogs and hand jobs - which, come to think of it, would have made for a much catchier alliterative title.
  29. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    Dec 6, 2012
    50
    The setting is vivid but the film is lifeless, despite many innuendos dropped about FDR's alleged infidelity.
  30. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    Dec 6, 2012
    50
    Roosevelt was one of the towering figures of the 20th century, but he and his accomplishments scarcely register in this amorphous, bafflingly aimless movie. The story hinges, increasingly to its detriment, on Daisy, a distant cousin to Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor.
  31. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Rodrigo Perez
    Dec 6, 2012
    50
    Largely harmless and tame, but also shallow and uninvolving.
  32. indieWIRE
    Reviewed by: Eric Kohn
    Dec 6, 2012
    50
    The actor's pathos and deadpan skills are buried in the material, which also suffers from a continuous lack of inspiration. It's high-minded entertainment with low ambition.
  33. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    Dec 3, 2012
    50
    The film is perceptive and shrewd about such matters as the awkwardness of two kinds of aristocracy and power brought face to face. But "Hyde Park" never catches fire.
  34. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    Dec 5, 2012
    42
    It's tastelessness like this, served up as fair-game dish to a Downton Abbey-loving audience, that sours the flavor of this tittery production.
  35. Empire
    Reviewed by: Angie Errigo
    Jan 28, 2013
    40
    Disappointing given the talent and situation, dull as ditchwater and historically suspect, another "The King's Speech" it definitely is not. Nice costumes, though.
  36. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Jan 11, 2013
    40
    Never elevated beyond much more than mere presidential puffery.
  37. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    Dec 19, 2012
    40
    When Murray's around, he's the only hot dog in the room.
  38. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    Jan 4, 2013
    38
    Maybe there's a good movie to be made about the affair between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a distant cousin. I wouldn't bet on it, and Hyde Park on Hudson isn't it in any case.
  39. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    Dec 13, 2012
    38
    I don't know if I've ever seen a movie as spectacularly tone-deaf as Hyde Park on Hudson.
  40. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: R. Kurt Osenlund
    Nov 25, 2012
    38
    The filmmakers bite off far more than they're able to chew, resulting in an odd blend of touched-upon topics.
  41. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    Sep 13, 2012
    30
    Roger Michell's movie is, pretty consistently, dreadful.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. MarcDoyle
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. A couple of scenes in Hyde Park on Hudson are spectacular - one of which is the first night that the King of England meets privately and informally with Roosevelt in his study over drinks and smokes. Historically interesting and very emotional, I would have loved to have seen this as the basis for the movie. Instead, we get another story of a US president who wants a tug-job and more from 4 or 5 of his female aids, advisers, and distant cousins. As soon as that Animal House moment hits: "Is it supposed to be this soft?" my anticipation and excitement for the movie took a nosedive. And when Daisy (Linney) realizes that she's not FDR's only mistress and the levers of power kick into gear to convince her to stick around despite her anger, the remainder of the movie becomes trivial. I would have loved to see time devoted to FDR's decision to help the British. Instead, we learn how Daisy's diaries were found, which led to this not-so-exciting story. So yes, Murray and Linney are terrific. But I would have preferred to have seen them in a more substantial film.… Full Review »
  2. hoops2448
    4
    Hyde Park on Hudson tells two stories and because of it, it feels like two films, one excellent, the other not so much. The film follows a weekend hosted by Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) for the king of England George the 6th and his wife queen Elizabeth. They are coming to ask for assistance in the unavoidable conflict that is the 2nd world war despite the fact it hasn't started yet. Meanwhile sixth cousin to FDR, Daisy begins a romantic affair with the president. The first story Hyde Park on Hudson introduces you to is that of Daisy (Laura Linney), the innocent woman who narrates most of this odd tale. However the Daisy represented at the beginning of the film is drastically different from that of the end of the film, for starters shes likable. Some might say for good films to be good the characters must change and to an extent that is true. However when a character changes so drastically and so unrealistically it ruins the story you are watching, you are left with a nagging feeling that this shouldn't happen. Such is the problem with Hyde Park on Hudson, a story about a shy woman finding her voice, its just shocking and slightly disgusting that the voice she finds within her is one I have absolutely no desire to listen to or follow. Not only does this new version of her emerge in a final act so rushed you might forget it even took place. It turns Daisy into what I can only describe as a manipulative concubine as if instantly and without logical reason. This long offensive picture does help its cause with its second story, the story that Daisy witnesses but never affects. When the king and queen arrive the film livens up and finally has something interesting to say. Not only does their story have a dark, serious war shaped core but it is also a jovial, light hearted tale of the differences and similarities of two countries and how through a simple act of desperation/hope they rekindled a connection that was long since severed. This story is one of friendship and joy, of fear and dread too and that's the kind of story I want to watch. The performances in the film are good and when it comes to Bill Murray and Olivia Coleman they are extraordinary but it can't help the film recover from a severe problem with its lead character. Linney herself is fine in the role and she makes do with what she is given but ultimately the film tells her story in a way that removes the viewers empathy and interest, you think she deserves what happens to her in the final act and maybe even something worse. The script has serious problems, most of which are plot related but there are also a few clunkers hidden away in the great dialogue. Ulitmately the film is let down by its director (Roger Mitchell) who portrays FDR more like the creepy uncle than the man behind the curtain, the wizard capable of doing great things while also having his many flaws. He somehow manages to show him as a wonderful man, a great leader and a man full of virtue and then flip him into something dark, camp and creepy, almost as creepy as the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. These changes cause huge tone problems and unfortunately Daisy gets stuck in the middle and gets indoctrinated by the wrong version of the man, the perverted old wretch who has nothing of value to say. If I wanted to watch a film that unintentionally ruins the persona of a president due to terrible direction and bad plotting I'd watch W. again.… Full Review »
  3. JustMaxPlease
    8
    It is slow only for the briefest moments and the humor has a delightfully sunny quality to it, as does Murray's performance. Bill Murray is the best he's ever been and Laura Linney is at the top of her game. This is a sleeper at the Oscars this year and if competition wasn't so thick with great performances in the acting categories they both would be worthy for a nomination. It also is a good companion piece for those who enjoyed The King's Speech.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »