60
A genial, lightweight farce, which largely approximates Hornby's distinctively bittersweet tone.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
40
Trivialising despair, it’s a depressing waste of a major cast, and an early bid for mess of the year.
40
Time Out London by Cath Clarke
The novel A Long Way Down is not-quite-vintage Nick Hornby. And this is a disappointing film version, a bit hokey and fake.
38
An inept trifle, Pascal Chaumeil's film reduces Nick Hornby's novel of the same name to a series of smug self-help gestures.
40
At best, this is a cringey stab at black comedy redeemed by charismatic stars; at worst it’s a glib and manipulative punt on a subject that deserves more care.
25
The film is awful, but it is not unwatchable.
40
The film wavers between the drippy and the glib from start to finish, sometimes within the course of a single scene.
20
The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin
The film forms a near-perfect storm of misjudged decisions, with its implausible plot, irritating or outright-dislikeable characters, and strained attempts at “wacky” British humor that fall so flat they’re below sea level.
20
It’s worse than tacky, trivializing depression for a handful of easy laughs and pop-psychology platitudes.
20
Jack Thorne's screenplay has all the emotional nuance of a Sudoku puzzle; directed by French romcom veteran Pascal Chaumeil (Heartbreaker), it's bouncy and vacuous enough to feel like a light comedy from the planet Neptune.