Diana 2013

Catherine Mayer, TIME Magazine: Why, oh why, oh why? Oh. Why? Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Watts and Andrews have no chemistry together whatsoever. But in all fairness, probably no actor could convincingly play lines like "I love when you touch me there.'' Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's ... a pity that her life is reduced to such a forgettable movie. Read more

Charles Gant, Variety: This Princess Di biopic swerves past the pitfall of tastelessness only to risk a more perilous roadblock: dullness. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: There's a germ of a smart biopic in Diana; the problem is that it's tucked away behind a clunky structure and even clunkier dialogue. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Not a lot different from whatever movie Katherine Heigl has made lately. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A gooey true-romance comic book trying to pass itself off as a historical drama. Read more

Drew Hunt, Chicago Reader: This visually polished, Oscar-baiting docudrama chronicles her final two years, and even in death she's a subject of invasive speculation. Read more

Suzanne S. Brown, Denver Post: Diana might have been flawed and scheming and love-starved, but this film doesn't help explain that. Nor does it illuminate the common touch and humanitarian side that endeared her to a global audience. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The film can't find the woman beneath the facade, despite Watts' best efforts. Maybe she didn't exist. Or maybe there's a better movie to be made. Read more

Kate Erbland, Film.com: Tries to humanize its leading lady, but it only embarrasses her (and us) in the process. Diana deserves so much more than this. Read more

Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter: Royal with cheese. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: While "Diana" is hardly a fully effective film, it admirably tries to understand a lonely public figure made briefly, energetically whole through a nourished intimacy. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Diana is a Lifetime movie in sensible pumps. The British press hates it, but Americans simply don't care enough about the royal legacy to muster up serious outrage. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: The movie may not be great, but for some it will be a fine guilty pleasure. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: One wants to say "too soon," but 150 years would be too soon for Oliver Hirschbiegel's close-to-comedic treatment of the princess' last chance at happiness. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: If you are going to make a film about the late Princess of Wales, you are obviously going to choose the guy who directed "Downfall," about the last days of Hitler, and the actress who played opposite King Kong. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Like most people, Diana Spencer was a lot of people - but "Diana" can only see the romantic naif. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: "Diana" can be declared a success in one regard - its vacant inanity serves to remind us of the perpetual indignities forced upon this unlucky Lady. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: [Hirschbiegel] nicely conveys an intimate restlessness, only to blow the mood with ominous tidings. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: This is a TV movie all the way, in the pre-HBO network shlock sense of the term. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Sixteen years after her death, Princess Diana is still capable of generating interest, which is probably the only reason why this dull, pointless movie was greenlighted. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Diana" is one big missed opportunity Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Despite the lackluster romance and the peculiarities of the casting, the subject of Diana's last years is so inherently compelling that the movie maintains interest throughout. Read more

Elizabeth Renzetti, Globe and Mail: Carries with it the whiff of Harlequin, the mouldy and tired air of a cottage paperback left on the dock. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Diana presents the tragic title princess not as a flesh-and-blood woman but as two-thirds of an Oz quest: she's a figure of heart and courage, but with no brain. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Watts nails the two-cans-of-hairspray helmet hair and spidery mascara. But her captain-of-the-lacrosse-team, onwards-and-upwards performance is way off the mark. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Watts's work is extraordinary, sometimes keying off the same illicit register as Mulholland Drive; she risks being goofy, awkward and bratty. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Lacks any insight into the characters involved, and surely would have the late Princess of Wales rolling in her grave. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: "Diana" isn't just an egregious case of rewriting history, but one of oversimplifying it. Read more