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Elsa & Fred Photos

Shirley MacLaine as Elsa Hayes and Christopher Plummer as Fred Barcroft in "Elsa & Fred."

Christopher Plummer as Fred Barcroft in "Elsa & Fred."

Shirley MacLaine as Elsa Hayes in "Elsa & Fred."

View All Photos (19)

Movie Info

In New Orleans, a feisty retiree (Shirley MacLaine) and her new neighbor, an uptight widower (Christopher Plummer), discover that it's never too late for true love and romance.

Rating:

PG-13 (Brief Strong Language)
Genre:

romance
Original Language:

English
Director:

Michael Radford
Producer:

Matthias Ehrenberg, Ricardo Kleinbaum, José Levy, Edward Saxon, Nicolas Veinberg
Writer:

Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford
Release Date (Theaters):

Nov 7, 2014 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

May 22, 2017
Runtime:

1h 44m
Production Co:

Cuatro Plus Films, Defiant Pictures

Cast & Crew

Shirley MacLaine
Elsa

Christopher Plummer
Fred

Marcia Gay Harden
Lydia

Wendell Pierce
Armande

Jared Gilman
Michael

Chris Noth
Jack

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Elsa & Fred

New on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Equalizer, Tusk, and More

Critics Consensus: Interstellar and Big Hero 6 are Certified Fresh

View All

Critic Reviews for Elsa & Fred

All Critics (28) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (19)

Considering the CVs of all involved (not least Radford, who was Oscar-nominated for Il Postino) this remains little more than a gooey footnote.

May 4, 2015 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
The film is so lightweight, it almost doesn't exist.

April 30, 2015 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Benjamin Lee
Guardian
Unlike so many American remakes of foreign films, this reboot improves on the original, mostly because it takes full advantage of the star power of its English-speaking cast.

December 18, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4

John Hartl
Seattle Times
As hard as MacLaine and Plummer try, the film can't sell their romance, because the script never conveys who the characters are beyond broad strokes.

November 10, 2014 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Keith Phipps
The Dissolve
This movie is so tone-deaf that it tries to wring charm from questionable stereotypes about senior citizens and minorities.

November 7, 2014 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…

Odie Henderson
RogerEbert.com
A not-terrific, not-terrible romantic comedy that owes most of its charm to its two stars.

November 7, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
A distracting cocktail of contrived ideas and easy resolutions.

September 6, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Nicholas Bell
IONCINEMA.com
It stars Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer as a pair of neighbouring oldies, struggling to breathe life into a staid scenario with rote characters, but the duo's undeniable quality manages to warm things up.

April 5, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Ben Nicholson
CineVue
Elsa & Fred is only so-so.

August 21, 2017 | Full Review…

Kathy Fennessy
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
This story of love in the autumn of life is not without its charms, though it takes a crisp and well-judged performance from Plummer to balance MacLaine's shrill extravagance.

May 16, 2016 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Peter Calder
New Zealand Herald
Elsa & Fred is a sweet story that reminds you that it is never too late to make your dreams come true.

March 7, 2016 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Theresa Smith
Independent Online (South Africa)
It is fatally lacking in wit and conviction, often playing more like a television sitcom than something that deserves a place on the big screen.

May 1, 2015 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Allan Hunter
Daily Express (UK)

View All Critic Reviews (28)

Audience Reviews for Elsa & Fred

Jan 02, 2016

Nice movie about an older couple. I didn't really expect to get into it, but it was actually really well done and Shirley MacLaine is still so beautiful to watch onscreen. I didn't realize until I looked it up that it's a remake of a foreign film, actually that made sense in how this one plays out. It wasn't your standard American film at all. I dare say the original is better (aren't they always?), but I haven't seen it, so I can only rate this as I find it. Quite moving in places. I loved the scene at the end where Elsa finally visits Rome, but it was sad too.

Nicki M Super Reviewer
Apr 03, 2015

I hated Elsa.... she was very immoral in my opinion. She made Fred happy and brought him out of his shell so that was the only good part of the movie.

Ida K Super Reviewer