48
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60EmpireJohn NugentEmpireJohn NugentIt doesn’t always successfully balance its comic and poignant tones, but yet another powerhouse performance from Olivia Colman makes Joyride a disarming experience.
- 60The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeThe Observer (UK)Wendy IdeThis odd-couple comedy road movie paints its characters in brushstrokes so broad you could land a jumbo jet on them, while the intrusively affable score lurches into every scene like a drunk with no concept of personal space. And yet Colman saves the picture, her thorny performance gradually revealing a well of pain.
- 40The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawEvery actor involved sells it hard and it’s good natured, but the unbelievability factor is just too high.
- 40The IndependentClarisse LoughreyThe IndependentClarisse LoughreyIt’s hard to treat Joyride just as a pleasant but easily disposable romp, especially when Reynolds loads up the film with so much cheap symbolism.
- 40The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeThe Irish TimesDonald ClarkeThere is nothing much to actively dislike here. Reynolds, a hugely experienced editor who won an Emmy for directing the superb documentary The Farthest, keeps the energy high and allows her fine cast to exercise all muscles. But Joyride feels like old-fashioned stuff.
- 40Time OutTime OutIf you’re able to look past the police’s bizarre inaction, Mully’s implausibly excellent driving skills and the schmaltzy score, there are moments of fun to be had.
- 40TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanTheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanColman does her absolute best to counter a scenario that manages to be both strangely off-putting and patly predictable, by shaping up a tartly unsentimental turn.
- 40Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJoyride is a jalopy of a film. This Irish-set story of a brand-new single mother and a precocious 13-year-old boy who end up on the road together is so scattershot and far-fetched it overwhelms its better intentions — of which there are many.
- 40The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJoyride, a grievously schematic blend of odd-couple comedy and life-affirming road movie, traverses the Irish countryside with a small degree of charm and a boatload of blarney.