56
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangYour mileage will vary on Genius, depending on where you place Law’s performance on the irritating/entertaining spectrum and your tolerance for somewhat formulaic tales of creative ego and “The Price of Fame.”
- 75Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayGenius may be a bit stodgy and safe, but it tells a story of beauty — as it plays out in an improbably fruitful friendship, and as it’s discovered within vast expanses of raw language by a craftsman who was arguably an artist in his own right.
- 75Slant MagazineOleg IvanovSlant MagazineOleg IvanovIt makes a convincing argument for viewing Thomas Wolfe's work as a product of the excess and exuberance of the 1920s.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFor those interested in this rich period in American literature, it’s a treat.
- 67The A.V. ClubAlex McCownThe A.V. ClubAlex McCownGenius may eventually be a little too comfortable with its own formula (unsurprising, considering its full-throated endorsement of Perkins’ traditionalist mien), but in its early going, it captures a little bit of the magic of artistic creation.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattEntertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattThe movie — dutifully shot in shades of old-timey sepia — does get better as its staginess falls away, but far too much drama stays on the page.
- 50Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangIf Genius is a failure — and by the generally unilluminating standards of most mainstream movies about the creative process, I’m not entirely sure that it is — it succeeds in being a noble, even charming one.
- 40The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottIt’s dispiriting to see a movie about interesting real-life characters reduce them to clichés, making them less vivid, less fascinating, less charismatic than they must have been.
- 0New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickJude Law gives arguably the worst performance of his career as Wolfe in Genius, the ham-fisted directing debut of noted British theater figure Michael Grandage, bombastically adapted by John Logan (“Gladiator’’) from a biography by A. Scott Berg.