Milk Reviews
The Age (Australia)
The film itself can be taken as an act of testimony, mingling archival footage with re-enactments and immediacy with nostalgia.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Atlantic City Weekly
Penn is magnificent in the title role with excellent support from James Franco and James Brolin.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Fayetteville Free Weekly
Sean Penn and gay director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) have created a warm-hearted testament to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay individual who was elected to major political office, and was then murdered/martyred.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.0/5
Tri-City Herald
What if Van Sant's movie hit theaters in California a couple of months before Californians said yes to the no-to-gay-marriage Proposition 8 on November 4?
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
The Australian
The film is dedicated to Milk's memory, but it's Penn that most of us will remember.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
MovieTime, ABC Radio National
Van Sant has a powerful story to tell, and he tells it with craft, as it was written.
Sydney Morning Herald
Penn is a revelation as Milk. He's always been a no-holds-barred actor, but this is another departure: his energy drives the story.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/6
FILMINK (Australia)
Quite simply, Milk is an unmissable film about a man who energised a movement.
Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Milk is the full-cream deal; an artery-testing tale of love, politics, human rights and heartbreak.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/5
Laramie Movie Scope
A spirited portrait of Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual person to serve in a major office in the United States.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Sunday Times (UK)
Milk is a powerful film that leaves a lump in your throat. It has a magnificent performance from Sean Penn.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Urban Cinefile
Sean Penn's stunning performance as Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man voted into US public office is the first reason to see this potent and involving film
Empire Magazine
Milk thoroughly deserves all of the press ink that will doubtless be spilt over it. Wear your 'Vote Penn' Oscar pin with pride.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Top CriticThe story is sad, but the mood is jubilant and the energy relentless.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/6
Film4
As a portrait of Harvey Milk, Van Sant's film is a sincere work, bolstered by an unquestionably outstanding turn by Sean Penn. While some of the other actors don't match up, this is a minor quibble in an otherwise impressive piece.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Times [UK]
Van Sant's skill as a film-maker is showcased here to inspiring effect. Rarely has a lesson in political history felt so involving and alive. What's more, it's a genuinely important film that could not be better timed.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Guardian [UK]
I felt that Milk is a slightly staid film, closer to the middle-of-the-road side of Gus van Sant's film-making persona, the bland side that made his treacly Sean Connery film Finding Forrester.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Daily Telegraph
It's a wonderfully evocative film, radiating with warmth and humour, bristling too with righteous rage.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Little White Lies
The real Milk - a former avid Republican, an egotist and to some a difficult man - seemed worthy of a dense, conflicted biopic. In the end, we have to be satisfied with Penn, doing Penn, doing Penn.
| Original Score: 3/5
