60
Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
The division between the personal and scientific stories is not a clean one. It gives the film an uneven rhythm as it at times lurches between the two women's very separate lives.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
Morton is outstanding. The rest of the cast, which includes Rashida Jones and Bradley Whitford, is also good. Bernstein does a nice job moderating the tone of the film, which could have been depressing, but isn't.
70
Decoding Annie Parker is a better living-with-disease drama than medical mystery.
20
Cross-cutting the story of a cancer victim who’s struggling to maintain her agency with the story of the woman who’s trying to cure her should compellingly enhance both threads, but Bernstein refuses to take advantage of his film’s structure and draw meaningful connections between the two.
42
The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
As hackneyed as the movie’s portrayal of Parker’s life might be, it seems subtly shaded in comparison to the King narrative, which mostly consists of people in lab coats saying things aloud that they should already know, using easy-to-follow metaphors while pointing to a conveniently posted chart or diagram.
50
Decoding Annie Parker could have shown much more effectively and deeply that the fight against an often ruthless disease can be won by women attacking it from multiple sides. Instead, it sticks mostly to one track, taking audience members on a journey that, sadly, via the movies or their own lives, they already may know a little too well.
63
Slant Magazine by Jordan Osterer
This isn't a film of bedside conversions or radical emotional transformations, nor is it a story about laughing at one's own hardships as a coping mechanism.
75
McClatchy-Tribune News Service by Roger Moore
The film tells Annie Parker’s story with heart and wit, and finds a few funny insights into the stubborn, brusque woman, Dr. Mary-Claire King, whose lonely quest to find proof would bear fruit.
50
Well-intentioned, if ultimately underwhelming, ode to the ongoing fight for a cure.
70
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Decoding Annie Parker is considerably better than the kind of disease-of-the-week fare that used to be a television cliché.