Being Julia Reviews

Annette Bening is great, but this isn't for kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

A beguiling romance about an aging actress at the peak of her career who embarks on an ill-advised, illicit affair with an admirer half her age.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

One of the best movies from this year's Telluride Film Festival

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

(...) Bening recorre todas las emociones posibles, desde la euforia histérica hasta la más absoluta depresión.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Benning ... brings this constantly disguised vixen to ferocious, flamboyant life.

Full Review | Original Score: C

While much of Being Julia's appeal stems from no one being as fabulous as [Julia] is, the lack of a worthy sparring partner diminishes the fun.

Full Review | Original Score: C

[A] perfectly light comedic soufflé that is not intimidated by its characters' darker undercurrents.

Full Review

Thank God for Being Julia, an Oscar-worthy comeback role that may just save one of our most gifted actresses from a life of way too much leisure.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

Watching Being Julia is like seeing a racehorse with an impeccable bloodline trudging across the finish line with the rest of the pack instead of out in front of it

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

There have been loads of comedies set in the world of theater, but few have the uncompromising, hard edge this film has.

Full Review | Original Score: B

Annette Bening shines with a glow that is beyond confidence and beyond beauty. She picks up the sometimes-clunky material and carries it on her shapely shoulders.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

The film desires to be a biting statement on the stage and real drama. It's misguided script fails to do either.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Bening great in otherwise prosaic film

| Original Score: 3/5

Smeared by a very childish ending ... But there is that Bening performance to savor.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10

While the film isn't quite perfect, it's close enough - especially in Annette Bening's glorious lead performance - that it seems churlish to complain.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

Being Julia is strangely devoid of the one thing every great film needs: a hook.

| Original Score: 2/4

Bening ... is radiant as ever and appears to be having an absolute blast.

Full Review | Original Score: B

Ponderous and superficial, and no art deco fashions or tasteful drawing rooms can compensate for it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

Annette Bening delivers her most scintillating performance to date in this wonderfully entertaining film.

Full Review

It's impossible to take your eyes off Bening when she's on the screen, not just because she's lovely but because she makes being Julia seem so darned fun.

Full Review | Original Score: B-