Lady Bird
A24 | Release Date: November 3, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
93
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 52 Critic Reviews
Positive:
51
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TimeStephanie ZacharekDec 27, 2017
Writer-director Greta Gerwig’s semiautobiographical Lady Bird is both generous and joyous, but when it stings, it stings deep. Read full review
100
UproxxMike RyanDec 4, 2017
You should see Lady Bird...and, when you do, savor its delightfulness because this is a tougher and tougher commodity to find. Read full review
100
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonNov 16, 2017
There are a few fearful moments when you think the movie will be a collection of affectations. But the characters are too real, Gerwig’s eye for the adolescent lives of young women too keen. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonNov 16, 2017
Lady Bird might finally be the role that earns Ronan (“Brooklyn”) an Oscar. As a young woman at odds with the world, and herself, she illuminates the film. Also worthy of Academy attention is Metcalf, who is sheer perfection as the quintessential stressed-out mom. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 9, 2017
There is no rookie-film handicap required in grading the excellence on display. There are no fireworks or twists or unnecessary frills here, nor should there be – this is simply perfect filmmaking from a voice that demands to be heard. The fall movie season is saved. Thank you, Greta Gerwig. Read full review
100
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 9, 2017
This is a fully realized film, with a confident eye and lived-in performances. What a treat. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 9, 2017
It is smart without being smug, insightful without being condescending, funny without being mean-spirited and genuinely moving. It’s unique and original and fresh and wonderful, and can you tell I loved it? Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 8, 2017
This is warm and intuitive work, striking that elusive balance between inspiration and control. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 8, 2017
Lady Bird is a triumph of style, sensibility and spirit. The girl at its center may not be a heavyweight, but her movie is epic. Read full review
100
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldNov 7, 2017
Lady Bird is a joy, from its start...to its finish, when that ever-so-slightly older young woman takes a breath and looks out — hopefully, nervously, excitedly — into a limitless future. Read full review
100
ObserverRex ReedNov 7, 2017
Lady Bird is that rare movie in which everything astonishes and leaves you charmed, breathless, and anxious for more. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 7, 2017
Watching Lady Bird is like flipping through a high school yearbook with an old friend, with each page leading to another anecdote, another sweet-and-sour memory. It’s a tonic to see any movie, especially in this late-Harvey Weinstein era, that does right by its female characters, that explores what it means to be a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, and that speaks the languages of sincerity and wit. Read full review
100
VoxAlissa WilkinsonNov 7, 2017
Lady Bird is the rare movie that manages to be affectionate, entertaining, hilarious, witty, and confident; it’s one of the best films of 2017, and certainly my favorite. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 2, 2017
Ms. Gerwig’s movie is very much a thanking situation. Once you’ve seen it — even while you’re watching it, with a grin stuck on your face — you want to give thanks for how wonderful it is, how wise and funny and full of grace. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 1, 2017
As warm as it is smart — and it is very smart — Lady Bird marks actor/screenwriter Greta Gerwig's superb debut as a solo director and yet another astonishing performance by star Saoirse Ronan. Read full review
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottOct 31, 2017
You might think you’ve seen this all before. You probably have, but never quite like this. What Ms. Gerwig has done — and it’s by no means a small accomplishment — is to infuse one of the most convention-bound, rose-colored genres in American cinema with freshness and surprise. Read full review
100
Village VoiceLara ZarumOct 31, 2017
A heartfelt coming-of-age story that perfectly captures the bittersweet transition from adolescence to dawning adulthood, Gerwig’s directorial debut is a joy from start to finish, a warm, generous snapshot of teenage vulnerability and exuberance. Read full review
100
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 16, 2017
Despite hitting so many classic coming-of-age hallmarks, Lady Bird never feels anything but fresh (and refreshing). This is, in part, due to the the film’s remarkably realistic performances. Read full review
100
CineVueChristopher MachellSep 15, 2017
A lovingly observed, pitch perfect coming-of-age comedy, Gerwig's warm, astute account of the end of adolescence is a stunning solo debut. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 10, 2017
Lady Bird is something truly special: a coming-of-age comedy so funny, perceptive, and truthful that it makes most other films about adolescence look like little more than lessons in cliché. Read full review
100
Screen DailyAllan HunterSep 10, 2017
Lady Bird is often screamingly funny but it also has a generous spirit, embracing characters with all their flaws and foibles, virtues and defects. Read full review
100
Time OutTomris LafflySep 8, 2017
A sweet, deeply personal portrayal of female adolescence that's more attuned to the bonds between best girlfriends than casual flings with boys, writer-director Greta Gerwig’s beautiful Lady Bird flutters with the attractively loose rhythms of youth. Read full review
95
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 20, 2017
Lady Bird isn’t a movie about any searing issue; it’s just a wonderful, rare character study of a young woman figuring out her identity, and all the pitfalls that follow. Read full review
95
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeNov 3, 2017
Gerwig has an eye for every step of this character’s journey, and in so doing, sets out on her own path toward what promises to be an exciting directorial career. Read full review
92
IGNWilliam BibbianiDec 26, 2017
Saoirse Ronan gives a standout, brilliant performance and so does Laurie Metcalf as her long-suffering, big-hearted mother. It’s a remarkable solo directorial debut from Greta Gerwig. Read full review
92
Paste MagazineKyle TurnerOct 19, 2017
Lady Bird is nothing short of tremendous, a wise film about how two people deal with ambivalence. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattNov 3, 2017
Gerwig doesn’t trap her protagonist in the oblivious underage bubble that most coming-of-age dramedies inhabit; Lady Bird’s parents, played by Tracy Letts and Laurie Metcalf, are fully formed humans with their own deep flaws and vulnerabilities. Read full review
91
The Film StageChristopher SchobertSep 11, 2017
Lady Bird is one of the year’s great joys. Greta Gerwig’s debut as a solo writer-director is so wise, so funny, and so remarkably assured that it seems to have flown in out of nowhere. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnSep 8, 2017
Lady Bird is both snarky and sincere — a touching, markedly feminine ode to growing up that never takes its familiarity for granted. Gerwig earns the ability to make this rite-of-passage saga her own. Read full review
90
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyNov 8, 2017
Every once in a while you stumble upon a near-perfect movie that is so sharp, warm, and genuine you can’t wait to watch it all over again once the credits roll. Read full review
90
SlateDana StevensNov 2, 2017
It’s not clear how autobiographical Lady Bird is — Gerwig is from Sacramento and graduated from high school around the time the film is set — but the little slice of universe she shows us feels deeply and lovingly observed. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 2, 2017
It’s a flittery movie, too, but with soul: Gerwig has a gift for skipping along the surface of her teenage alter ego’s life and then going deep — quickly, without fuss — before skipping forward again. Read full review
90
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 8, 2017
The real surprise is just how honest and personal this film proves to be — again, par for the course with Gerwig, and yet, fairly rare among first-time directors, who haven’t had nearly so much practice simply being real. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 8, 2017
The film abounds with pinpoint insights into its mildly rebellious heroine's hunger to shed the restraints of home and Catholic school and bust into an independent life, and does so with a wealth of keenly observed detail. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenNov 8, 2017
In her first solo writing and directing effort, the hard-working indie film actress Greta Gerwig proves that she is her own muse. She takes the well-worn coming-of-age-dramedy format and fashions something fresh, funny, and artful from its familiar tropes. Also delivering the goods is a knockout cast of accomplished veterans and relative newcomers. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 8, 2017
As debuts go, Lady Bird is as strong as they get: funny, ferocious, and wise. It does, however, drape its restless energy and witty observations atop an overfamiliar framework of coming-of-age movies. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 7, 2017
Writer Greta Gerwig's witty and endearing solo directorial debut...navigates the absurdities and struggles of the transition into adulthood while striking an excellent balance between enjoyable quirk and touching emotion. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 3, 2017
It’s the genius of this genial, formulaic coming-of-age comedy that Lady Bird never seems too broadly drawn. We’ve known this kid, gone to school with her, watched her reinventions continue straight on into college. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaNov 2, 2017
It is also one of the better solo directing debuts by an actor in recent memory. Hardly a false step is taken by Greta Gerwig in her semi-autobiographical script that centers on Lady Bird’s final year at her rather progressive Catholic high school. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 1, 2017
Just when you think there's nothing original or exciting left to mine from a coming-of-age story, along comes the totally irresistible Lady Bird – a reminder that no genre is played out when there's a new artist around to see it with fresh eyes. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayOct 7, 2017
A uniquely American comedy, Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird is testy, humane, and firmly rooted in its time and place. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyDec 1, 2021
True to its title, this film is about a nest, every twig that was used to build it, and what flying out of it might mean and cost, to parents and child alike. The detail is in those twigs, and if Gerwig is capable of all this in her first solo feature, who knows what feats of woodwork she'll craft for us next. Read full review
80
Little White LiesSophie Monks KaufmanDec 1, 2021
Gerwig nails how mothers and daughters argue – always at each other’s throat. Because of the tonal breadth of the film, different shades of feeling are found in each grudge match. Love as a combative war of words is an energising force. Read full review
80
EmpireTerri WhiteFeb 12, 2018
A coming-of-age story like no other, Lady Bird is smart, emotional, funny and completely original. Rarely has a directorial debut been so assured, so singular and so heartwarmingly affecting. Read full review
80
Total FilmJane CrowtherFeb 12, 2018
Smart, funny and emotional, Lady Bird is a Trojan horse movie – sneaking its way into hearts and minds via well-worn tropes. Read full review
80
The New YorkerRichard BrodyDec 27, 2017
Lady Bird, daring, distinctive, and personal in text and theme, is recognizably conventional in texture and style. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsAmy RoweNov 2, 2017
Greta Gerwig is spreading her wings as a filmmaker — and she soars with Lady Bird. Read full review
80
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 10, 2017
Lady Bird doesn’t exist as a twee indie movie construct, it feels thrillingly real and deeply personal, every single beat ringing true. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 9, 2017
Highlighted by an awards-worthy performance by Saoirse Ronan and structured around a light, witty script by Gerwig, the movie delivers a well-targeted snapshot of a year-in-the-life of an ordinary high school senior. Read full review
75
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodSep 8, 2017
There are two things that make this movie stand apart: Metcalf and Gerwig. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 3, 2017
Frisky and oddball in ways that are sometimes annoying and more often ingratiating. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 16, 2017
That humor, like the film's moments of drama, tends to be measured rather than over the top -- but on the whole that's a good thing. It suggests a filmmaker who knows the value of restraint, which is a rarity, particular in a first-timer. Read full review
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