Dad's Army

Variety by

Amiable to a fault, with gags both broad and gentle, Oliver Parker’s pic prompts sporadic chuckles rather than guffaws.

Time Out London by Cath Clarke

The top-notch cast keep calm and carry on, but this TV remake is a waste of everyone’s time.

Empire by Nick de Semlyen

It has a strong, game cast but this is karaoke filmmaking, trading on nostalgia rather than breaking new territory. Affable but forgettable.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

It’s hard to escape the sinking feeling that this is a waste of talent – and that this is a good-natured, well-meaning but pointless kind of Brit-comedy ancestor worship, paying elaborate homage to a TV show that got it right the first time.

The Telegraph by Robbie Collin

Dad’s Army bleakly suggests that even the best source material in the world can only take you so far.

The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton

Dad’s Army is hobbled by too much broad slapstick and labored clowning.

Screen International by Wendy Ide

The risk-averse approach to the remake extends to the humour. Pratfalls and benign double entendres (“I saw you slip her a sausage!”) rub shoulders with familiar gags and catchphrases which have been lifted wholesale from the original series.