New movie Eileen has landed star Anne Hathaway with one of her highest ratings to date on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Based on the novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, the film follows Eileen (Last Night in Soho’s Thomasin McKenzie), a worker at a juvenile detention centre in the 1960s, whose life is disrupted by her connection with new psychologist Rebecca, played by Hathaway.
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It currently sits at a 87% critic score at the time of writing, putting Eileen just 1% behind Brokeback Mountain and 3% behind 2019 drama Dark Waters, in terms of Hathaway’s highest rated films across her career.
Eileen is directed by William Oldroyd, and alongside Hathaway and McKenzie, also stars Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire), Siobhan Fallon Hogan (Men in Black) and Tonye Patano (Weeds).
To mark the film’s release today (December 1), here are what some of the critics are saying about Eileen:
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"Hathaway doesn’t exude warmth, but something at a more wry, but equally seductive, remove. With her head thrown back, and a cigarette dangling from her hand, she looks at Eileen like she might otherwise regard one of her patients, with a curious desire to take a hammer to her defences."
"The film certainly has its moments… It is intentionally funny, but I’m not sure how intentional the film’s other effects are. The performances by Hathaway and McKenzie are vehement and watchable, but the film itself is an unsatisfying and anticlimactic oddity."
"The casting choices are spot on. McKenzie and Hathaway share great chemistry and it is thoroughly thrilling to spend time watching them flirt and giggle.
"An impressively crafted noir that skilfully captures isolation, dread and yearning."
"McKenzie is a naturally sweeter Eileen, though a whole volcano thrums under her obedient, waterful exterior. And Hathaway eats her scenes, finding both the ferociousness and calculation beneath Rebecca’s beauty and the wounded humanity.
"For all its heavy themes – and the truly wild turn it takes in the third act – it’s also a surprisingly funny movie, shot through with visual wit and off-kilter comedy. And lurid triumph, too."
Eileen is out today in both UK and US cinemas.
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Soaps Writer, Digital Spy and Inside Soap
After studying for an English degree at the University of Exeter, Erin completed a PPA-accredited Masters in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. She first joined the Digital Spy team in late 2023, writing across both news and features.
Erin is a fan of all things TV, from comedy and drama to reality TV and soaps.
