Matt Oakes Silver Screen Riot Oct 15, 2026 D+

A misfire in all senses of the word, let's just write 'Labor Day' off as the dud that it is and hope it's no more than a fluke in an otherwise commendable career.

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Don Shanahan Every Movie Has a Lesson Jul 20, 2025 5/5

Reitman finds the right tone to pull off this story's glowing evolution from fearful to tearful.

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JD Duran InSession Film Aug 12, 2024 D+

Labor Day is a tragic mess on all kinds of levels. It’s not that you’d expect this movie to win awards or anything, but you can expect a lot more from Reitman, who really misses the mark big time here.

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Mar 19, 2023 2/4

The movie’s compression of characterizations and storylines makes it seem like it was adapted from one of those trashy beach reads that are digested and forgotten over the course of one sunburnt afternoon.

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Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review Aug 18, 2022 2/4

Predictable, obvious, and far-fetched.

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Robert Sims Lights Camera Austin Jan 22, 2022

While ranking among director Jason Reitman's most sincere offerings, the hostage drama Labor Day sends the distressing message that a woman must settle when it comes to love.

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Richard Crouse Richard Crouse Feb 1, 2021 3/5

A compelling, if slightly far-fetched tale, of the kinds of connections people make.

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Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Sep 13, 2020 3.0/4.0

My gut tells me that Reitman has pretty much made exactly the film he wanted.

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Avaryl Halley Movie Bitches Apr 24, 2020

Basically, imagine a Nicholas Spark movie, but without the cheese.

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Andrew Galdi Movie Bitches Apr 24, 2020

I was bored and uncomfortable.

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Chris Davies One Room With A View Jun 7, 2019 3/5

Labor Day is still a solid, emotive and absorbing drama, albeit one that is ultimately unremarkable.

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Paula Fleri-Soler Times of Malta Mar 6, 2019

This works is also down to Winslet and Brolin. They certainly share smoldering chemistry, which helps no end, but they also add depth and meaning to roles which in others' hands could have easily been flat.

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Amanda Greever The Daily Times (Tennessee) Feb 5, 2019

The romance, while ridiculous, can probably scratch the itch of sappy people who don't know any better.

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Debbie Baldwin Ladue News Nov 3, 2018 3/10

You can't focus on the story, the actors, the acting, the chemistry or the dialogue. It's like there's no safe place to rest your eyes.

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Asia Frey Lagniappe (Mobile, AL) Aug 22, 2018

Kate Winslet can't really do any wrong from an acting standpoint and this was no exception.

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Camilla Long Sunday Times (UK) Feb 21, 2018 2/5

[Jason Reitman] has taken himself far too seriously, producing a film so ruminative and honeyed and dull that the final scenes start to resemble a terrifying and treacly recurring dream, in which no one seems to be able to leave town.

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Josh Terry Deseret News (Salt Lake City) Nov 28, 2017

[The] message gets muddled against "Labor Day's" contemporary disregard for sexual restraint in relationships.

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Jay Kuehner Cinema Scope Oct 10, 2017

Too much sugar ruins the pie! Jason Reitman's shamelessly saccharine adaptation of Joyce Maynard's novel could not have resisted such a bromide, as it was baked into the dough.

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Jared Mobarak The Film Stage Jun 23, 2016 A

The three central performances are amazingly complex and introspective, each actor providing the perfect mix of either apprehension or confidence.

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Jason Bailey Flavorwire Jun 18, 2016

Too often, 'Labor Day' feels like a sternly resolved, self-consciously determined break from that tradition, a filmmaker deciding "I am making a Serious Drama" and steadfastly refusing to allow even a note of levity into the proceedings.

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