48
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinDespite being entombed in all that prop flesh and wrinkles, Mirren manages to emote very effectively with her voice, mimicking Meir’s midwestern twang, gait and posture.
- 70VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanGolda is a good drama about Israel. But it will take a great drama about Israel to dig into the nation’s long-simmering moral ambiguities.
- 50Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganGolda is a tentative step towards looking at that inflammatory era with the depth it needs and that’s worthwhile: but plucking Golda out of her own life and that time out of its wider context still feels like a missed opportunity.
- 50New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNew Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottWhile Nattiv’s film is a heartfelt tribute, it feels like a mere Polaroid snapshot of a woman who deserves a full panoramic portrait.
- 50The Associated PressMark KennedyThe Associated PressMark KennedyGolda has seeds of interesting insights, like the suggestion that she was betrayed by some of the men she relied on during the war and yet protected them. Or how false intelligence is nothing new when it comes to Middle Eastern conflicts. Or how female leaders inevitably face catch-22s. But none of these is taken.
- 42IndieWireBen CrollIndieWireBen CrollUltimately, “Golda” holds three firm beliefs: That Meir is a leader to admire, that Mirren is an actress to adore, and that all interactions must be reverse engineered to fit this limited scope. It makes for a superficial biopic and blinkered bit of history, but does give the venerable performer a new accent to chew on and the chance to blow some smoke.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawAs a war movie, it’s bafflingly dull; as a political-intrigue drama, it’s lifeless; as a personal portrait of Meir, it’s inert and superficial.
- 33The PlaylistRafaela Sales RossThe PlaylistRafaela Sales RossGolda fails as a war movie, impenetrable to those unfamiliar with the Israeli-Arab conflict. It fails as a biopic, too, by refusing to scrutinize how Golda rose to power — and, most importantly, how she kept at it.
- 33ColliderChase HutchinsonColliderChase HutchinsonIt is mostly a drag with some potentially sharper small details never coming together to outweigh the dullness at its core. For those who may come to the film wanting to understand more of who Golda was and her role in history via a well-written character study, they’ll only end up departing it with all of those questions still lingering.