Brian D. Johnson Maclean's Magazine Jul 29, 2019

W.E. offers astounding proof that a movie can be larded with talent, money and craft, yet fail miserably.

Go to Full Review

PJ Nabarro Patrick Nabarro Jul 24, 2019 2/5

The film is perhaps an ironic exposé of how personal Madonna's interest is in the very sort of privileged, monied and transnational lives of the two lead women.

Go to Full Review

Kelly Jane Torrance Washington Examiner Jan 4, 2019 1/4

Madonna needs to accept... that her talents lie not in the movie business.

Go to Full Review

Amy Wadsworth CineVue Dec 13, 2018 1/5

A watered-down, at times emotionally manipulative, and often morally one-dimensional biopic.

Go to Full Review

Deborah Ross The Spectator Aug 31, 2018

With the right amount of directorial mishandling, you can utterly waste the talent of two actresses who are otherwise first-class.

Go to Full Review

Eleanor Ringel Cater Saporta Report (Atlanta) Aug 30, 2017

Perhaps the movie should've been title W.E. C. As in, Who Even Cares....

Go to Full Review

Kong Rithdee Bangkok Post May 9, 2016

Madonna's swirl of luxury and grainy jump-cuts merely drift, and then land somewhat in emptiness.

Go to Full Review

Sean Burns Philadelphia Weekly May 3, 2015

A marvelous 10-car pileup of ostentatious art direction and dated fashion shows in search of reason for being.

Go to Full Review

David Keyes Cinemaphile.org Jan 22, 2015 2.5/4

Does not end with any cohesive point, but as a study in style and technique it shows a woman enamored with the sensation of classic cinematic values.

Go to Full Review

Glenn Dunks Trespass Sep 8, 2013

Having gone to painstaking lengths to ensure this film assigns [Madonna] oh-so-serious directorial cred that she has sadly forsaken the very energy that makes her a megastar to this very day.

Go to Full Review

Andy Lea Daily Star (UK) Mar 14, 2013 1/5

It may not be laughably awful - like her and Ritchie's Swept Away - it's something far worse...boring.

Go to Full Review

Will Chadwick We Got This Covered Sep 15, 2012 2/10

W.E. is staggeringly misjudged, infuriatingly revisionist, blindingly stupid and stomach evacuatingly terrible.

Go to Full Review

Erick Weber NECN Sep 4, 2012 C+

Kudos to Madonna for ultimately producing a celluloid smorgasbord that contains the caloric content of a couple of Snackwell's cookies.

Go to Full Review

Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Aug 26, 2012 D

Go to Full Review

William Bibbiani CraveOnline Aug 22, 2012 4.5/10

Impossible to recommend to anyone not already fascinated with the British royal family, or at least jonesing for a companion piece to The King's Speech.

Go to Full Review

Matt Brunson Creative Loafing May 8, 2012 2.5/4

Truth be told, the film isn't THAT bad, and if it had been directed by an unknown rather than a controversial media icon, it might have been more charitably dismissed as an ambitious failure.

Go to Full Review

Philip Martin Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Apr 29, 2012 81/100

not a completely horrible film ...there's one sequence - an anachronistic and jarring one in which Wallis Simpson ... dances with a Masai tribesman to the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" - that I think indicates that Madge has real potential as a director.

Go to Full Review

John Beifuss Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Apr 18, 2012 2/4

An ambitiously conceived and beautifully designed and costumed but disjointed work; each scene is impressive on its own, but the movie -- like its heroines? -- lacks a coherent identity.

Go to Full Review

Marty Mapes Movie Habit Apr 15, 2012 3/4

Madonna doesn't appear in W.E. but her artistic sensibilities are on display at every turn.

Go to Full Review

Sean P. Means Salt Lake Tribune Mar 30, 2012 2/4

Tonally and emotionally all over the map, Madonna wants to celebrate Wallis' and Edward's martini-shaking high living while also wallowing in her hidden pain.

Go to Full Review