The Queen 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Allows us to understand just how heavy the crown really sits. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's a buoyant mixture of deft, lightly impudent high comedy and human-scaled drama. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The Queen is the most reverent irreverent comedy imaginable. Or maybe it's the most irreverent reverent comedy. Either way, it's a small masterpiece. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: When I think what sentimental tripe The Queen could have been in the hands of amateurs, I bow in gratitude to all concerned. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Marvelously smart, funny and entertaining. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's beautifully written and the acting is just pinpoint perfect. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: That's Mirren's magic: She makes us care, no matter how shallow our curtsies. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Combining facts from the public record with dramatic speculation, Frears and Morgan portray the royals as simultaneously an ordinary family and anything but. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Smartly relevant and affecting, commenting not only on the isolation of the monarchy but also on a tabloid culture run wild. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A subtle, often very funny, ultimately touching tragedy of royal manners and meaning. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A crackling dramatic story that's intelligent, thoughtful and moving. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: We see not only the inner corridors of power, but also sense the inner workings of the royal mind. Stephen Frears' deft direction also gives the film insight and even humor. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It is very rare for a historical drama, especially one made by artists who are not remotely Tory, to express such wide-ranging emotional sympathy for the ruling class. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: This imperial mix of wit, humor and compassion manages to humanize at once the prickly worlds of royalty, politics and popular culture. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Borne with grace and honor on the back of Helen Mirren's astounding title performance, The Queen manages to encompass the personal and political with both depth and grace. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Mirren conjures Elizabeth as an identifiable flesh-and-blood wife, mother, grandmother, and woman with a job to do. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Although Mirren transforms into a living human being as artfully as any actor I have ever seen in Stephen Frears' portrait of a woman and royalty under siege, the movie in which she performs this alchemy is every bit as good as she is. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Succeeding where most docudramas fail, it turns a slice of recent history into a revealingly intelligent entertainment, without being didactic at one extreme or sentimental at the other. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Politically shrewd, unexpectedly funny yet immaculately tasteful. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Eventually, the movie, as with other similarly humane and perceptive comedies, allows its audience to see that not only does everyone have his or her reasons for behaving as they do, those reasons may be far less easy to dismiss as one supposes. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The genius of the movie lies in Mirren's work. She captures the complexities of a woman who's often seen as unknowable. Ultimately, it's a tribute to the regal leader rooted in reverence and empathy. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: A lesser director might make all of this deadly earnest, but Frears treats it as what you might call a tragi-comedy of manners, perfectly serious but human foibles everywhere. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: All this might make for a better book than a movie if it weren't for the subtle brilliance of Mirren's performance. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The Queen is not difficult, [but] it is sufficiently and, yes, marvelously artistic... Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: In good times and bad, for good or ill, she is the public face of her nation. Mirren, Frears and Morgan let us see just how much a burden that mask has been. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Mirren and Sheen present gracious, humane portraits of two people whose conviction over their place in the world is shaken by unprecedented circumstance. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Queen is an interesting character study. There's not much plot to speak of, but it gives actors (including a splendid Helen Mirren) an opportunity to shine. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Told in quiet scenes of proper behavior and guarded speech, The Queen is a spellbinding story of opposed passions. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The Queen tears off the royal robe and suggests that, despite what Johnny Rotten said, she is a human being. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: An absolute delight, combining the cheap thrills of a biopic with the gentler, but more lasting, pleasures of a brilliant character study. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: A sheer delight to sit through and leaves you with a whole evening's worth of impassioned conversation. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: With its lavish imagery and elegant writing, The Queen is a majestic film, and Mirren is the heir apparent to be crowned best actress of the year. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Frears masterfully combines archival news footage with stellar performances from an outstanding cast, led by Mirren in a title role that demands Oscar glory. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: An immensely entertaining and seemingly acute chronicle of the week Diana died. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: It's a film of delicious performances and great wit. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Both [Michael Sheen and Helen Mirren] understand the prickly push-and-pull that defines the fight -- the Gray Monarch v. the Great Modernizer -- and give quiet gravitas to the polite but firm standoffs. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A fascinating character study and a brilliantly crafted drama. It has some of the wittiest writing in recent memory and spot-on performances. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: Tradition and informality collide -- and mutually benefit -- in the deliciously written and expertly played The Queen. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Whether or not Tony Blair actually saved the British monarchy, Frears has made it seem so and even worth doing. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Mirren's finely calibrated performance reveals a complex woman coping with a bewildering world, and Blair's growing sympathy for his beleaguered monarch gradually becomes ours. Read more