Last Orders
Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 31
  3. Negative: 1 out of 31
view
per page
  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    100
    A movie I loved on first sight and, even more important, love in remembrance. Taken all in all, there's only one last thing to say about it. Go.
  2. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    100
    It's like Chekhov with a British accent.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Too many films about the dead involve mourning, and too few involve laughter. Yet at lucky funerals there is a desire to remember the good times.
  4. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    88
    A superb film that begins with death, ends in renewal, and finds almost as much to laugh about as to cry for.
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    88
    Richly textured, beautifully acted.
  6. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    100
    Unassuming masterpiece about life, love and the cruel joke of old age.
  7. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    100
    Like finding that perfect stage of moderate drunkenness in which the senses are sharpened rather than dulled, and time passes with leisurely grace.
  8. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    90
    Shows the dying tremors of a generation, and you might feel as if you can see every molecule, every atom give up the ghost.
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    90
    The movie's pace is unhurried by Hollywood standards, but it's all the richer in character detail.
  10. New Times (L.A.)
    Reviewed by: Luke Y. Thompson
    90
    The film's biggest strength is the same characteristic that may cause people to underrate it: that the group of friends we watch onscreen feel not like England's greatest actors showing off, but rather a group of friends who have indeed known each other for years through life's little triumphs and large tragedies.
  11. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    90
    The lifelong friends in Fred Schepisi's marvelous Last Orders actually seem like lifelong friends.
  12. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    90
    Superbly adapted by Fred Schepisi from the Booker Prize-winning novel by Graham Swift, Last Orders pays quietly passionate tribute to the unsung working-class generation that fought World War II and survived to take up apparently humdrum lives.
  13. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    90
    A funny and touching film that is gorgeously acted by a British cast to rival Gosford Park's.
  14. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    90
    Gathering its forces slowly, this careful, thoughtful film, quietly but deeply moving, is dramatic without seeming to be.
  15. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Stratton
    90
    Delicately handled and superbly textured, this fine adaptation of Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel deals with all the really big subjects: love, friendship, death, life.
  16. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    90
    Sad and lovely.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. geedup
    7
    I found this movie based loosely on the book Family Linen. It is a good story remembering their departed friend as they carry out his last wish. During the travel to disperse the ashes, each remember different times with him and his wife/children. In this time there is discovery of flings and unintended regrets. Very heavy in dialog but a good story.… Full Review »
See all user reviews »