The Duke

Name: The Duke
Genre: Biography, Drama, Comedy
Released: December 10, 2021
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 74
Cast: Aimée Kelly, Anna Maxwell-Martin, Charles Edwards, Charlotte Spencer, Fionn Whitehead

2021

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Ratings

See All

7.2

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.2	Your Score
7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

The Duke

Now Playing: The Duke

Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: December 10, 2021 | R

Starring: Aimée Kelly, Anna Maxwell-Martin, Charles Edwards, Charlotte Spencer, Fionn Whitehead, Helen Mirren, James Wilby, Jim Broadbent, John Heffernan, Matthew Goode, Sian Clifford

Summary: In 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television forIn 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge – a startling revelation of how a good man set out to change the world and in so doing saved his son and his marriage.… Expand

Director: Roger Michell

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 96 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

The Telegraph Robbie Collin

Feb 26, 2022

The Duke is that rarest of things: a comedy that knows that a twinkle in the eye and a fire in the belly needn’t be mutually exclusive. Read full review

The Playlist Jessica Kiang

Sep 14, 2020

You could dine on nothing but lard for twenty years and still not develop the hardness of heart necessary to avoid being won over by Roger Michell‘s The Duke, a ridiculously charming British comedy that dunks a gamely accented prestige cast into an appealingly milky true story like so many digestives into a warm, well-earned, early evening cuppa. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Apr 21, 2022

The Duke is a genial British entertainment that, at its best, reminded me a bit of those wonderful postwar Ealing Studio films like “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Ladykillers.” Read full review

IndieWire Nicholas Barber

Sep 14, 2020

If you suspect The Duke is on the cosy and nostalgic side of the cinematic spectrum, you might be right. But it’s such an expertly crafted and highly polished piece of warmhearted escapism that it’s difficult to resist. Read full review

Mike Scott

May 2, 2022

Heartwarming, beautifully shot and more English than a basket of fish-and-chips with a side of mushy peas, it’s an easy-to-watch, easy-to-love crowd-pleaser. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

May 4, 2022

The Duke may superficially seem like old hat, but in its comfortable ways there’s still a strong message. Read full review

Christopher Machell

Feb 28, 2022

Though the grins, laughter and cheering of the film’s climax is a little too heavy on the sweetness, it’s a harder heart than mine that would fail to be just a little moved by Bunton’s speech about our dependence on one another. Read full review

SEE ALL 35 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Negative:

User Reviews

Mauro_Lanari

Jun 20, 2022

(Mauro Lanari)
The expectation is to witness a social issue like those of Loach treated with the panache of the Michell of "Notting Hill", here at his latest film before dying at the end of the summer of the following year. But the biopic is about a bizarre protagonist whose events do not(Mauro Lanari)
The expectation is to witness a social issue like those of Loach treated with the panache of the Michell of "Notting Hill", here at his latest film before dying at the end of the summer of the following year. But the biopic is about a bizarre protagonist whose events do not reach neither drama nor comedy. The new Robin Hood, a 60-year-old John Doe who fights injustice, power and system, is impertinent and witty more in theory than in practice, emotionally blurred and shaky as the closet in which he hides the painting. We observe him hoping that the brilliant talent of the two main actors will make up for the shortcomings of the true story of Kempton Bunton and his family, but perplexities take over. "The limit [...] of English cinema so [impeccably delicious, sophisticated], reassuring and predictable is [precisely its being devoid of] ripples, inert as a Sunday afternoon" (Enrico Azzano).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 1 REVIEWS