60
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceErnest HardyVillage VoiceErnest HardyAt the film's center is Emily Watson's pitch-perfect performance as Margaret Humphreys, the real-life social worker who in 1986 stumbled over the hidden practice.
- 60EmpireDavid HughesEmpireDavid HughesMoving if low-key, Jim Loach's debut feature is proof that compassionate, socially conscious filmmaking runs in the family.
- 60The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenRona Munro's screenplay for Oranges and Sunshine is unnecessarily flighty. As the story ricochets between Britain and Australia, the film often loses track of time and becomes fragmented as it struggles to integrate too many subplots. What holds it together is Ms. Watson's calm, sturdy performance.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterNatasha SenjanovicThe Hollywood ReporterNatasha SenjanovicSunshine is stretched thin for the big screen. The decidedly art-house film is better suited for television.
- 50Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyLos Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeySometimes the facts can get in the way of the drama, and that's the central problem here. That sense of needing to be true to the record is reflected in an overwhelmed screenplay.
- 50New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithMaking a true story of social injustice into a gripping narrative requires more imagination than is contained in this well-intentioned but uninspired effort.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThe movie lumbers, and Loach and screenwriter Rona Munro's affectless approach winds up tamping down the movie's good intentions.
- 38Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSlant MagazineAndrew SchenkerThe film is so careful to avoid the luridness that would seem inevitably to accompany an excavation of child kidnapping, forced labor, and rape, that the result is a plodding, overly tasteful procedural that holds up its hero as an incorruptible embodiment of goodness.