70
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
The film is handsomely mounted, traditional in its scenecraft, superbly acted, and much less ham-handed than you might expect from a historical drama about a great man’s great moment.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg
The King’s Choice maintains a sense of intrigue when it sticks to the king’s dealings with the government, but the movie drags when it moves outside of back rooms and deviates from setting up the Bräuer-Haakon showdown.
75
RogerEbert.com by Godfrey Cheshire
What is unusual about the film is that it is a frankly admiring portrait of a monarch. The king here is the tale’s hero, and the choice he makes regarding the Nazi invasion undergird a drama that is proudly and unequivocally patriotic.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Its intent is to show us how difficult it is to see clearly during times of crisis, how what seems as simple as black and white today was the source of uncertainty and soul-searching when it happened.
50
Washington Post by Michael O'Sullivan
The performances are fine and nuanced, but the stakes seem, for some reason, more theoretical than actual.
60
It has a few traumatic and bedazzling scenes of combat, but mostly it’s about the backroom bureaucratic gamesmanship of war.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Farber
Handsomely mounted and well acted, the film breaks no new ground but remains engrossing.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Walter Addiego
Haakon VII is a hero in Norway, and The King’s Choice tells us why.