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Hyde Park on Hudson (12A)

Biography, Comedy, Drama

The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.


The critical consensus

Whether it bears any resemblance to what actually happened is almost academic in a film that takes a precious moment in time and transforms it into a witty, civilised country house drama.

***(*)(*)Allan Hunter, The List, 15/01/2013

Roger Michell’s film is high on chutzpah.

**(*)(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 27/01/2013

It’s icky stuff, not helped by Murray giving perhaps the worst performance of his career. And I include Garfield 2.

*(*)(*)(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 31/01/2013

The picture can't quite make up its mind, though, whether it wants to be a silly comedy of manners set in the home of the President's mother, or a moving drama about being the other woman.

***(*)(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 31/01/2013

There’s much of historical interest here, and it’s very well acted, if a little slow.

***(*)(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 31/01/2013

The film tinkles on affably, never quite sure of its focus but civilised, gentle, prettily-mannered.

***(*)(*)Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 31/01/2013

Disappointing given the talent and situation, dull as ditchwater and historically suspect, another The King’s Speech it definitely is not. Nice costumes, though.

**(*)(*)(*)Angie Errigo, Empire Online, 28/01/2013

As a historical footnote it may contain truth – the script is based on Daisy's diaries, found after her death in 1991 – but that doesn't mean it has anything to say.

**(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 31/01/2013

The movie insists on an unearned sentimentality and nostalgia about a situation and a period that is never fully evoked or explored.

**(*)(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 31/01/2013

Hyde Park on Hudson has precious little truck with reality, either historical or emotional: it’s a thin tale shot with a kind of manic cosiness that belies its slightly creepy plot.

**(*)(*)(*)Robbie Collin, The Telegraph, 31/01/2013

What appeals about Hyde Park on Hudson is its easy nonchalance: it’s never trying too hard to win us over, which is exactly why it does.

***(*)(*)Jamie Dunn, The Skinny, 01/02/2013

Officially, [this] may not be a sequel to The King's Speech, but unofficially there's no two ways about it...And, like most sequels, this one obeys the law of diminishing returns.

Nicholas Barber, The Independent on Sunday, 03/02/2013

An oddly pale companion piece to The King's Speech and made with a similar eye to the American market.

Philip French, The Observer, 03/02/2013

A frustrating, wasted opportunity, destined to remain in the shadow of its cinematic sibling.

**(*)(*)(*)Sophie Ivan, Little White Lies, 31/01/2013

It works as a showcase for Murray to demonstrate some impressive range. The scenes between his chair-bound womaniser and Samuel West’s stammering monarch are undoubtedly the film’s strongest, so much so in fact that you wish the movie had focussed on their ‘special relationship’ instead.

***(*)(*)Stephen Carty, Flix Capacitor, 10/01/2013


Features about Hyde Park on Hudson (12A)

Revealing a royal taste for hotdogs and a president's two secret lovers

Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 27/01/2013

From The Big C to the Oval Office

Will Lawrence, The Herald, 26/01/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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