68
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerIn a narrative filled with numerous opportunities for scenes you’ve seen before, Durham ducks all the cliches to stay focused on what’s most important: a father, a daughter, and the words they shared between them.
- 75ColliderRoss BonaimeColliderRoss BonaimeWhen Jones and McNairy are playing off each other, Fairyland really finds the beauty of this story. Especially in the third act, as this relationship becomes more difficult and uncertain, both present themselves as people who struggle with the balance of doing what's right for themselves and doing what's right for each other.
- 75TheWrapKatie WalshTheWrapKatie WalshThough there are a few clunky or obvious monologues in the script (perhaps the hazard of adapting a memoir), the emotion and intention behind the story, as well as McNairy’s career-best performance, make “Fairyland” an astonishingly moving film and touching remembrance.
- 70Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganDurham captures a place in time quite beautifully, and McNairy is sympathetic and believable playing a character who could be perceived as weak, or neglectful, but instead comes across as a somewhat hopeless romantic. It’s really his performance that lingers.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyIts surge of final-act feeling will speak to any audience that has ever experienced the startling reckoning that comes with grief.
- 70Screen RantMae AbdulbakiScreen RantMae AbdulbakiEmotionally effective and often quite tender, the film boasts understated, powerful performances from Emilia Jones and Scoot McNairy.
- 67The Film StageMichael FrankThe Film StageMichael FrankFairyland is McNairy’s film. He ripped my heart out. He’ll likely do the same to the majority of viewers, leaving wet eyes and sniffling nose. Fairyland is McNairy’s to care for, to love, to let go. In return, he gives his greatest performance.
- 60VarietyGuy LodgeVarietyGuy LodgeThere’s an unforced authenticity to its portrait of ruptured early childhood that isn’t matched by its later, more melodramatic depiction of father-daughter warfare — even if its tear-jerking tactics are undeniably effective. That it’s affecting in both registers comes down to a performance of quiet, good-humored grace by Scoot McNairy.
- 58The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodDisappointingly, and despite the best intentions, Durham’s overwritten script diminishes some potentially truly moving moments over the course of the picture. There is simply too much clunky exposition.