Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reimagining of the classic story is out now in cinemas.
The Guardian: **** “For all its qualities, it feels as if there are a couple of missed opportunities: I wish we had had a wedding ceremony; and I wish that Buckley had been allowed to keep going with the Mary Shelley voice, which was very funny – instead, Gyllenhaal appears to lose interest in that idea after the first act. A pity. But Buckley gives it such outrageous craziness and she is a great pairing with the stolid Bale, especially when they go into a uncontrolled jerking and twitching choreography with the other revellers at a classy white-tie event. Without Buckley, this would have been lacking; with her, it’s a very bizarre and enjoyable spectacle of married bliss.”
BBC.co.uk: **** “The film is gigantic in scale, as they arrive in the bright neon of New York City’s Times Square and later engage in a ballroom shoot-out with the police. And throughout, even when The Bride! is short on emotion, its bold vision is exhilarating.”
Empire: ** “What the film does have going for it is committed performances from its talented cast, and make-up and costume design that is a true feast for the eyes. But ultimately what the film most exudes is incompetence.(Rumours of reshoots abound.) Despite flashes of glory, the editing is chaotic. Character appearances and costumes appear out of sequence.”
The Independent: *** “The ‘Hamnet’ star reunites with her ‘Lost Daughter’ director on this playful and imaginative yet somewhat baffling experiment.”
Roger Ebert.com: *** “For a film this uninhibited and varied, Gyllenhaal’s ending feels too tidily feminist in an unsophisticated, you-go-girl kind of way that comic book adaptations have been guilty of in the past decade. While she tries to bring the monster inside all of us out of the shadows, she errs on the side of the basic that feels out of step with the world that Mary Shelley conjured up. Still, “The Bride!” is big and risky in a different way, a fantastical creative explosion you can’t look away from.”
Den of Geek: ** “The Bride! doesn’t want awards. Yet it does seem to want to be all things at once. Which is unfortunate because in the ensuing chaos it amounts to not much at all. But it sure does leave a spectacular looking trail of nonsense in its wake.”
Variety: “Except that the movie doesn’t move. I had no desire for “The Bride!” to be action horror, but too many of the scenes have a murky, static rhythm that feels semi-improvised (even if they’re not). It’s fun to see Buckley, after the sincerity of “Hamnet,” giving a performance of what-the-hell schizoid fury.”
Rolling Stone: “Maggie Gyllenhaal’s radical take on the Bride of Frankenstein story takes a stitched-up middle finger to the patriarchy. Also: Gangsters! And musical numbers!”
The Hollywood Reporter: “Gyllenhaal’s second feature as writer-director, following the more modestly scaled and psychologically layered The Lost Daughter, is certainly a big swing and The Bride! deserves credit for its ambition and its stylish visuals.”