It's a poignant tale of thwarted lives, and a thorough delight. Barrymore is especially compelling as a woman thwarted in love.

| Jul 6, 2020

The new film stumbles the most when it recreates moments from the documentary, because even two great actresses just can't compete with people who were not acting, but were instead showing us a part of their incredibly complex selves.

| Original Score: A- | Mar 28, 2020

Ms. Lange and Ms. Barrymore easily play eccentric beauties, but they are even better in the more complicated roles of crazy cat ladies.

| Jul 25, 2018

The Edies were two women with a half-ounce of talent and a full measure of stubbornness, and they're played beautifully in both old and young states by Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, who give fearless performances of intriguing luminescence.

| Jul 25, 2018

In the right hands, there's a nobility in unfettered eccentricity.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 25, 2018

How strange, though, and how marvelous, to discover that a documentary camera is not always a reliable recorder, that it takes more than that to show us people in the fullness of life.

| Jul 25, 2018

No matter how many times we revisit the story and peek in the windows, there really isn't much we can do except shake our heads and acknowledge that some people either don't get very good cards or don't play them very well.

| Jul 25, 2018

Sensitive and well acted as this new Grey Gardens is, it feels like a wish-fulfillment fantasy that gives Little Edie a happy ending; the truth of this woman's life must have been much grimmer and messier.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 25, 2018

Michael Sucsy directs an HBO version that takes a little of this, a little of that, in building toward a (sort-of) happy ending that's hard to swallow.

| Jul 25, 2018

Like everything else about them, it's a trifle odd, carrying in its tones the unmistakable notes of tragedy and triumph.

| Jul 25, 2018

Whatever problems I had with the script for "Grey Gardens" are completely offset by the stunning performances by Lange and Barrymore.

| Jul 25, 2018

The original documentary may have been predatory, but it captured something powerful, the face of failed optimism, the many meanings of the word "spoiled." Sometimes it's better to let strange be strange.

| Jul 25, 2018

Lange is flat-out extraordinary as she reveals the extent of Big Edie's big narcissism without demonizing her.

| Jul 25, 2018

This is a performance that says, "If you thought I was just sidekick material for Adam Sandler or Hugh Grant, think again."

| Jul 25, 2018

Whether you know the Maysleses' film or not, you'll be astounded at the performances of Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore as Big and Little Edie.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 25, 2018

"Grey Gardens" is, like its subjects, a brilliant, moving, hilarious and mesmerizing mess of a movie that miraculously captures what made the Beales such iconic characters

| Jul 25, 2018

If there is a meaning to this adaptation, it lies in the filmmaker's gentle suggestion of the Beales' martyrdom-though for what cause the ladies suffered remains unclear.

| Jul 25, 2018

It's an enormous relief to report that Barrymore and Lange aren't just good as Little and Big Edith Bouvier: They're damn near perfect.

| Original Score: A | Jul 25, 2018

Lange never makes a false step. The revelation, though, is Barrymore, who nails an elusive accent and tricky mannerisms.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 25, 2018

I was stunned by the uncanny accuracy of the scenes related to that original film; the set and prop reproductions, the re-enactment of scenes from the documentary, and the make-up and costuming of Barrymore and Lange is simply stunning.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2018