38
Slant Magazine by Andrew Schenker
Director Erik Canuel fails to deliver us from the inevitable hermeticism of the material.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
Two things to keep in mind when considering Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer as the great John B: It was brilliant as a one-man stage show; it was never a good candidate for film.
80
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
God, I love Plummer's performance - the twiddling fingers, the tipsy sway of the head, the reverberating roar, as well as the pathos of a man who can't stop acting long enough to hear the cry of his own soul.
40
This isn't a film, it's a recording of canned ham-tasty, certainly, but creaky nonetheless.
50
The material itself has a formulaic solo-bioplay rhythm neither performer nor director can fully elude.
80
It takes a minute for the film to move beyond a kind of gilded stasis, but once it does, it - and Plummer - are riveting.
40
New York Daily News by Joe Neumaier
Barrymore is a delicious opportunity to watch the great Christopher Plummer perform the role that won him a second Tony Award. But it's also a lesson in the pitfalls of personality-based minimalism. While Plummer acts his heart out, the script becomes one punchline after another.
75
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Among the drawbacks: Director Érik Canuel jumps through hoops in an effort to make the stage piece (by William Luce) move like the movie piece it isn't.
75
With much help from an exasperated off-screen prompter - the only other performer in this small gem - Plummer's Barrymore shows flashes of glory as he delivers bits and pieces of various Shakespearean roles.
80
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Mr. Plummer stumbles beautifully, poignantly and often, leering and searching through a haze of memory or, with concern edged with panic, calling for "a line, a line" much as Richard III calls for a horse.