The Irish Times by Tara Brady

It’s just a great story, you wonder why nobody thought to make a movie before.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

If there is a tonal uncertainty in this comedy, then that’s because there was a tonal uncertainty in the real-life events, and the movie nicely conveys how they were at one and the same time deadly serious and Pythonically silly.

Screen Daily by Fionnuala Halligan

Well written, -acted, -cast and -produced, this wholly entertaining yet stingingly relevant story of the 1970 Miss World finals should have been a smash hit when it opened in UK theatres on March 13, but events overtook its release.

Boston Globe by Ty Burr

Misbehaviour is intersectional to a fault, and keeping all those balls in the air is almost more than the movie can handle.

Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper

Following the playbook of “The Full Monty,” “Calendar Girls,” “Military Wives,” et al., Misbehaviour achieves just the right mix of farcical humor, dry wit and the obligatory dramatic moments when the light banter and sight gags give way to Poignant Confrontations reminding us there are serious undertones to this breezy romp.

The Hollywood Reporter by Leslie Felperin

The jocular, amiable tone helps deliver the more serious social history lesson throughout, even if sometimes it feels like it’s shouting just a little too loudly to wake up the dimmer students at the back of the lecture hall.

Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein

Good intentions, deft performances and vivid dollops of period style and sensibility go a long way to patch over the bumps.

RogerEbert.com by Sheila O'Malley

An attempt to tell this complicated intersectional story, and it does so with a comedic light-hearted style, sometimes appropriate, but sometimes inadequate to the possibilities inherent in the real-life event.

Empire

Knightley and Mbatha-Raw headline an excellent band of British talent, but the film’s focus feels sadly misguided. There’s a great story within Misbehaviour — we just don’t get to see enough of it.

Total Film by Neil Smith

A memorable showdown from yesteryear is recalled in an enjoyable yet frustrating film that stubbornly refuses to pick a side.

Empire by Beth Webb

Knightley and Mbatha-Raw headline an excellent band of British talent, but the film’s focus feels sadly misguided. There’s a great story within Misbehaviour — we just don’t get to see enough of it.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

Like most commercial movies about feminist history, though, it also has a toothless vision of protest and empowerment that’s doomed to fail its subject because its makers don’t (can’t) risk making the audience uncomfortable.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Barry Hertz

Each performer tries their best to inject the material with energy and wit and verve, but Rebecca Frayn and Gaby Chiappe’s script has too many threads to weave together, leaving everyone looking a bit stranded.

The Observer (UK) by Simran Hans

The film is called Misbehaviour, but a timid script belies mischief of any sort.