Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Lone Scherfig
Cast
Gemma Arterton,
Sam Claflin,
Bill Nighy,
Richard E. Grant,
Jack Huston,
Helen McCrory
Genre
Romance,
War,
Comedy,
Drama
During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resilience as a way to buoy a weary populace's spirits. Her efforts to dramatise the true story of two sisters who undertook their own maritime mission to rescue wounded soldiers are met with mixed feelings by a dismissive all-male staff.
It isn't easy to make a movie about writers and writing, so I was impressed with how the film makes the act of writing exciting by showing the movie the writers see in their head as they write, but also, in the first scene when Catherine goes into the writers office and the dialogue shoots back and forth with rapid cuts, it sweeps the viewer and Catherine up in the rhythm as she spins back and forth and the film cuts rapid-fire.
Observer by Rex Reed
Beautifully cast, intelligently written and a gorgeously assembled range of beautifully gauged emotions about movies and war, Their Finest is one of the best films of a still-young 2017.
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
One of the smartest, funniest and most surprising movies I’ve seen in years.
TheWrap by Alonso Duralde
Their Finest delivers in a way that would please the Ministry of Information: it’s rousing and emotional, there are laughs and tears, and it portrays people trying and, mostly, succeeding at being their best selves in the service of their country.
The Playlist by Noel Murray
The charming, rousing WWII romance Their Finest is a film that openly stumps for two causes: the value of women in the workplace, and the power of cinema to tell stories that people need to hear.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Their Finest is a treat that has something on its mind, a charming concoction that adds a bit of texture and bite to the mix. Genial and engaging with a fine sense of humor, it makes blending the comic with the serious look simpler than it actually is.
The Seattle Times by Moira Macdonald
Screen chemistry is an odd thing; often you only notice it when it isn’t there. (See: far too many Hollywood romantic comedies.) But Their Finest, an utterly charming film set in World War II-era London, contains a textbook example.
Boston Globe by Peter Keough
At its best, which is often, Their Finest by Danish director Lone Scherfig (“Italian for Beginners;” “An Education”) manipulates appearance and reality, relief and recognition, with exquisite finesse. As befits a film about making films.
Screen Daily by Allan Hunter
Director Lone Scherfig’s sentimental approach favours easy laughs and warm romance but the film starts to cut a little deeper in its closing stages.
Variety by Andrew Barker
Their Finest is the sort of crowd-pleaser that knows the difference between satisfying its viewers and flattering them, all the while showcasing surprising performances from Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin, and an entirely unsurprising one from Bill Nighy — a master scene-stealer pulling off yet another brazen heist.
Screen International by Allan Hunter
Director Lone Scherfig’s sentimental approach favours easy laughs and warm romance but the film starts to cut a little deeper in its closing stages.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Their Finest is too understandably serious to be called a romp, yet it has a buoyancy that lifts you and, in Ms. McCrory, a woman who does, too.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
While the strong ensemble cast is Their Finest's most valuable asset, the movie also looks quite handsome on what appears to be a modest budget, and includes some delightful glimpses of how screen effects were achieved way back in those handcrafted days.
The A.V. Club by Jesse Hassenger
But if Their Finest is a little stodgy and tasteful, it also possesses Scherfig’s trademark wistfulness.
Slant Magazine by Kenji Fujishima
Intimately focusing on its main character's personal triumphs, its refusing to fall into heavy-handed polemicism.
Village Voice by Abbey Bender
The combined charms of Britishness and nostalgia often prove a potent blend for American moviegoers, but Their Finest could have delivered something more.
IndieWire by David Ehrlich
The romantic scenes are cute, but they feel at odds with the drama. The laughs land like chuckles, the love registers as mere fondness, and the salient observation that countries recast themselves during wartime is reduced to a fleeting detail.
The Film Stage by Daniel Schindel
The movie makes a game attempt to resonate as something stronger than a typical period romance, wringing its wartime setting for all the pathos it can manage. But even the horrors of the Blitz feel too gentle here.
The Guardian by Nigel M Smith
At its core, it’s really just a workplace love story that grows increasingly uninterested in its plucky heroine’s journey in favour of hitting familiar rom-com notes – and to give audiences another reason to love Bill Nighy.
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