The Surrogate is a theatrical exploration of hardship during pregnancy, and shows the human side of a difficult ethical and moral decision.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 14, 2024

Jeremy Hersh’s movie often has the feel of an academic exercise, and the fact that its characters are earnest Brooklynites doesn’t help.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 6, 2022

Jasmine Batchelor gives one of the best performances of the year in Jeremy Hersh's The Surrogate, a smart and sensitive drama about a pregnancy surrogate who finds out the foetus will be born with Down Syndrome.

| Aug 29, 2021

Writer-director Jeremy Hersh tackles the intersection of race, sexuality, class and disability with rare nuance in this wry indie drama, which observes sharply the trappings of millennial entitlement and liberal hypocrisy.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 12, 2021

[T]his is a finely turned exercise.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 10, 2021

If it initially lacks momentum and oomph, the film becomes a multi-faceted look at issues surrounding surrogacy, anchored by Jasmine Batchelor's central performance as a woman forced to make a life-changing decision.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 10, 2021

Genuinely thought-provoking and handsomely acted.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 9, 2021

At times it's a bit of a squeeze in there, but on the whole he delivers a sensitively written, well-acted, intelligent film.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 9, 2021

It's a brilliantly written and deftly performed morality play disguised as social satire. By the end the cracks are chasms, the arguments forensically examined, and the decision no easier to make.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 9, 2021

Writer-director Jeremy Hersh, making his feature debut, excels at unpicking how the threads of each character's moral position are tangled up with other issues, such as class, gender... that have real material effects on how they see the dilemma.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 7, 2021

It is the complexity and credibility of Batchelor's performance that enables The Surrogate to connect on such a deep and emotional level.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 24, 2021

A superb central performance from Batchelor guides the audience through a film which navigates an ethical and emotional minefield, and concludes that there are no easy answers.

| Jan 8, 2021

The Surrogate presents diverse viewpoints and allows people to make up their own minds about the important issues that are in the film. It's the type of well-made storytelling that's very much needed in cinema right now.

| Jul 22, 2020

An emotional powerhouse, Jeremy Hersh's gripping drama "The Surrogate" tackles a wide array of complex and ethical dilemmas, some harder to stomach than others and in the process, it never loses sight of its focus and gets melodramatic.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 11, 2020

The Surrogate proposes an interesting moral quandary, one that might have been explored in more depth with a better script. But ultimately, the baffling characterization of Jess lets the film down.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 7, 2020

The cast does a spectacular job, bringing a grounded realism to the work and allowing the heavy emotions to wash over like a soft rain versus a bucket being dumped out. A crucial piece of craftsmanship for this sort of source material.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Jun 25, 2020

Chooses an uncomfortable subject and forces its characters to reckon with it, heart and soul.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 24, 2020

The film's earthy, honest tone gives it a powerful kick, raising important ideas without generalisations and recognising all opinions as valid.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 22, 2020

Hersh's intelligent style turns a dialogue-heavy, potentially rote film into an enthralling and moving experience.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 22, 2020

Smart but talky indie drama of liberal New Yorkers concerned with a surrogate pregnancy and Down syndrome, as well as morality issues over abortion.

| Original Score: B+ | Jun 16, 2020