Observer by Rex Reed

Another illuminating performance by Rachel Weisz and a brilliant screenplay by the distinguished British playwright David Hare make Denial one of the most powerful and riveting courtroom dramas ever made.

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

Rachel Weisz’s arresting, combative Lipstadt, a shining woman warrior, is a role she will be remembered for, while as her antagonist Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner) makes a spookily stubborn, thoroughly despicable, but still human Irving.

We Got This Covered by Darren Ruecker

Beneath this movie’s conventions are some interesting gender politics that perhaps could have been made more apparent, but to its credit, are pleasantly subtle.

Slant Magazine by Oleg Ivanov

Denial shows that people’s misfortunes need not preclude them from living virtuous lives founded on basic human decency.

The Film Stage by Jordan Ruimy

While Denial doesn’t do anything new on a technical side, it is fully aware of its gripping plot, one that welcomely avoids pushing its inherent clichés to the forefront of its story.

IndieWire by David Ehrlich

A simple courtroom drama that never betrays its convictions, the film is a basic but bitterly urgent reminder that history is far more fluid than fact, a garden that must be tended to at all times lest it wither and grow weeds.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Kate Taylor

As her adversary, the ghastly Irving, Timothy Spall is excellent, creating a man of great insecurities hidden behind blustering self-confidence. The actor is happily willing to manufacture a thoroughly oily and dislikeable figure as he and Jackson successfully balance their villain on the knife edge of caricature.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Weisz’s conviction, passion and galvanizing outrage drive Denial. For a Jewish academic, this was no intellectual exercise, and Weisz lets us see it. Between the frames, Weisz likewise assures us that Denial is no routine movie for a Jewish actress.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Calvin Wilson

The fact-based Denial is a well-crafted and skillfully acted drama about standing up for the truth, regardless of how challenging that might be.

Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper

A powerful but often stilted drama bolstered by two great performances from accomplished actors and nearly sunk by an unfortunately (and surprisingly) off-key performance from another fine actor.

Screen Daily by Fionnuala Halligan

Jackson’s film is best enjoyed for the quality of the performances and the typical richness of Hare’s screenplay.

New York Daily News by Stephen Whitty

The action inside the courtroom is compelling. This is a place where people duel with words, not swords, but the wounds can be just as deep and permanent.

Screen International by Fionnuala Halligan

Jackson’s film is best enjoyed for the quality of the performances and the typical richness of Hare’s screenplay.

Variety by Owen Gleiberman

For all the powerful relevance of its subject, Denial, directed by Mick Jackson from a script by David Hare, never finds its grip. It’s a curiously awkward and slipshod movie that winds up being about nothing so much as the perverse, confounding eccentricities of the British legal system.

The Playlist by Gregory Ellwood

What’s most disturbing is Jackson’s pedestrian direction has resulted in a film that barely recognizes how powerful this is in contemporary society.

The Guardian by Nigel M Smith

Under the workmanlike direction of Mick Jackson (The Bodyguard), what should have been a rousing and ragingly topical crowdpleaser, instead feels more like a Lifetime movie.