There are fine performances from the ensemble, with [Salma] Hayek's feisty outsider and [John] Lithgow's smug, self-satisfied tycoon making the most satisfying contributions.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 22, 2017

I can't quite say I enjoyed it, but I'm not going to forget it that easily, either.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 29, 2017

Hayek gives one of her better performances, though - she makes it clear that Beatriz may be righteous, but she's also more than a bit unhinged - and Lithgow is so good at playing CEO oiliness that you have to smile. He's the man you love to hate.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 23, 2017

"Beatriz at Dinner" is an insanely heavy-handed liberal fantasy that both sides of the aisle can come together to equally hate.

| Original Score: D | Jun 23, 2017

Disarming in its simplicity while simultaneously being thoughtful and provocative--the skill of its execution make it compelling, even suspenseful at times. Whether or not you accept the conclusion is up to you.

| Jun 22, 2017

"Beatriz at Dinner" is a meal of a film, with plenty to chew on.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 21, 2017

The menu for "Beatriz at Dinner" is more appetizer than main course.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 16, 2017

Together, screenwriter Mike White and his Enlightened director Miguel Arteta have an almost magical way with light-touch verbal sparring, an art that's become lost in today's broad, banter-filled comedies.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 16, 2017

Beatriz at Dinner works well beyond both lecture or lesson because of the care and attention everyone has put into the people that play them out.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 16, 2017

As obvious as the movie's intent and execution are, it gnaws at the conscience thanks to the brilliance of the lead performances.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2017

Screenwriter Mike White aims for social satire but doesn't have much to say about the erosion of kindness in the Trump era; he seems to think that planting a character like Beatriz in front of a stand-in for the president is enough.

| Jun 15, 2017

As touching as Hayek's performance is, "Beatriz at Dinner" too often forsakes nuance for caricature ...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 15, 2017

By the time the second course has come and gone, "Beatriz at Dinner" has already paved a road, brick by brick, laden with insults, assumptions, racist slights and cluelessly patronizing small talk.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2017

Unvarnished and often silent, [Hayek] holds the camera's gaze like a dare. She cuts such a striking figure, you'll want to follow her anywhere... and where the film ultimately follows is utterly gutting.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 15, 2017

The real power of "Beatriz at Dinner" is that it isn't about politics but the human heart. Beatriz and Strutt are not arguing legislation; they're arguing two visions of the American dream, two visions of the human soul.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 15, 2017

In a mere 83 minutes, "Beatriz at Dinner" gets close to the heart of the matter. It has the length of a palate cleanser but the weight of a full meal.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2017

It's a film filled with unexpected beauty: the "wishing lanterns" that giddy guests send up into the night sky; the vision of an exquisite, cloud-flecked dawn on the morning after; the frequent, steady close-ups of Hayek's eyes, as they slowly harden.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 14, 2017

Arteta is clearly confident of preaching to the converted, and of whipping up indignation at those who mean us harm. Thanks to his leading players, however, the movie grows limber, ambiguous, and twice as interesting, and the sermon goes astray.

| Jun 12, 2017

Both Beatriz and Strutt would be cartoons in the hands of other actors, but Hayek and Lithgow give a master class in building characters from the inside out.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 12, 2017

Salma Hayek gives the performance of her career in this stealth weapon of a comedy from director Miguel Arteta and screenwriter Mike White.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 9, 2017