It's gripping and amusing, and it contains one of John Hurt's last screen appearances.

| Nov 30, 2018

One of the great political transitions has been re-imagined as a concise road trip in a pastiche of the sort of political play Peter Morgan might have written as a two-hander for the smaller stage. As a film, it doesn't open out.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 1, 2017

The Journey does not claim to be historical fact, but that doesn't make the creatively intelligent fiction it muses on any less fascinating.

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

"The Journey" has fun playing make believe, but its execution cheapens history and distills fundamental ideological differences into treacly teachable moments.

| Original Score: C | Jul 14, 2017

With precious cargo like Spall and Meaney to transport, even Freddie Highmore behind the wheel - and the occasional narrative detour - didn't give sufficient cause to incite road rage.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 7, 2017

The bit of MI-5 chicanery behind the whole plot is a tad silly, but the sparring of Spall and Meaney is just worth the 94-minute investment.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 7, 2017

The dialogue swings between quick and banal as the chipper McGuinness tries to crack the self-righteous stoic (Spall is brilliant) Paisley.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 6, 2017

Every element of the movie feels fabricated, from the stilted conversation to the all-too-convenient obstacles the movie keeps throwing in the path of progress, including a flat tire, an empty gas tank and an implausible detour to a church.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 6, 2017

The Journey functions primarily as a hopeful story of people overcoming their differences, but it also looks at how each man rationalized his own role in the endless violence.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 6, 2017

Spall and Meaney are mesmerizingly watchable in a film that's 40% gruff dialogue and 60% seething silences.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 6, 2017

Even if the construct seems a tad forced, the winning performances make the excursion worthwhile.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 29, 2017

While Hamm and Bateman have the right idea overall, their love of contrivance too often gives "The Journey" the sense of being reverse-engineered ...

| Jun 22, 2017

A platitude-laden, sermonizing, and artless episode of "The Odd Couple."

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 22, 2017

The men's meeting serves the cause of Irish reunification, but the movie itself never coheres into anything believable.

| Original Score: C- | Jun 16, 2017

The real-life version of how these two mortal enemies became so close that they were referred to in the press as 'The Chuckle Brothers' is way more interesting than the 'imagined' version presented in the film.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jun 16, 2017

Touching, inspiring, beautifully performed and very timely.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 15, 2017

Though the script tilts to the didactic, the performances are absolutely delicious, with Mr. Meaney droll and understated and Mr. Spall fiery and derisive, yet not above a joke.

| Jun 15, 2017

The Journey ponders nothing less than the intractability of political violence. Which means it's pertinent far beyond Belfast.

| Jun 15, 2017

The Journey is the rare hopeful political film rooted in both reality and very recent history.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 15, 2017

The film is buoyed by its sharp, witty lead performances, with Spall's holier-than-thou imperiousness clashing suitably with Meaney's more affable obstinacy.

| Jun 14, 2017