TAGGED AS: Netflix
Aaron Sorkin returns to the courtroom drama for The Trial of the Chicago 7, one of this season’s big awards frontrunners. The historical film, which depicts the titular multi-defendant case concerning the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, is earning mostly positive reviews. Sorkin’s directorial talent, in only his second feature at the helm, is still up for debate, but the movie is primarily being praised for his writing and the performances by the ensemble cast, led by Sacha Baron Cohen portraying Yippie icon Abbie Hoffman. The movie is also, of course, the latest in a run of period pieces being highlighted for its timeliness in 2020.
Here’s what critics are saying about The Trial of the Chicago 7:
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the best film that the barren 2020 cinematic landscape has given way to.
– Kyle Pinion, ScreenRex
It’s one of this year’s very best films.
– Sean O’Connell, Cinema Blend
One of the best pictures to grace the screen in 2020.
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
One of the best movies of the year.
– Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is Sorkin at his Sorkinniest, in the good way.
– Stephanie Zacharek, Time
While it certainty feels like an Aaron Sorkin film, it also doesn’t – there is a new edge to his work here.
– Ben Rolph, Discussing Film
This is easily the most forceful piece of anti-systemic filmmaking of his career.
– Kyle Pinion, ScreenRex
Aaron Sorkin at his most Sorkin-y somehow translates to him at his worst.
– Matt Cipolla, The Film Stage
(Photo by )
Sorkin does not seem like the obvious choice for telling the story of the Chicago 7, but his new movie… works to overcome Sorkin’s past rhetoric and deficiencies.
– Matt Goldberg, Collider
If you had any doubts that Aaron Sorkin the director was incapable of living up to his screenwriting counterpart, The Trial of the Chicago 7 obliterates concern.
– Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth
It’s hard not to wonder if a different filmmaker might have productively shifted the balance here, perhaps by treating his dazzling words as the movie’s skeleton, not its star.
– Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
It’s just frustrating to imagine how much better this could have been without Sorkin in the director’s chair.
– Clint Worthington, Consequence of Sound
He’s definitely improving as a filmmaker…[but] would a different director have applied auteuristic flair to Sorkin’s masterful Chicago 7 script? Undoubtedly.
– Sean O’Connell, Cinema Blend
The film is most notable for the way it goes in directions we haven’t seen from [Sorkin]… he emerges as an assured filmmaker whose style can be as propulsive as his words.
– Steve Pond, The Wrap
Sorkin takes a rather dense, complicated court case and keeps it aloft every minute, as if he were following the aerodynamic principles of hang-gliding rather than moviemaking.
– Stephanie Zacharek, Time
Aaron Sorkin captures the courtroom drama with electricity and the violence with horrifying albeit striking clarity and pain.
– Robert Kojder, Flickering Myth
As a director, Sorkin hasn’t yet grasped how to meld personal drama and historical sweep into a cohesive whole.
– Chris Barsanti, Slant Magazine
The filmmaking is in dire need of the same sort of fire and passion inherent in the performances.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
(Photo by Netflix)
With this being an Aaron Sorkin film, the words are the best part… the punches of his The Trial of the Chicago 7 script linger longer than his usual pacing.
– Don Shanahan, 25YL
One of Sorkin’s great gifts as a storyteller is his ability to play with structure to great effect within his screenplays, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 is no exception.
– Kyle Pinion, ScreenRex
The dialogue pops but rarely overlaps, the way it does in real life, because if it did, you wouldn’t be hearing the voice of Sorkin the screenwriter, with his perfectly engineered setups and comebacks.
– Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
There are so many stand-out performances here that I’ll be ruminating on them for a while.
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
Arguably the best ensemble acting showcase so far this year.
– Don Shanahan, 25YL
The ensemble’s collective performance veers between being show-stopping and falling into parody.
– Robert Daniels, The Playlist
Abdul-Mateen, who just won an Emmy for Watchmen, deserves some serious Oscar consideration as Bobby.
– Brian Truitt, USA Today
Major kudos to Abdul-Mateen II, fresh off his Emmy win for Watchman, in bringing an impassioned supporting turn to the screen.
– Nate Adams, The Only Critic
In a film with wall-to-wall great performances, Rylance’s is the greatest, primarily because he manages to make his work here seem so natural.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
[Michael] Keaton steals the show by slowing the rapid-fire Sorkin dialogue down to a crawl; he makes you lean in for every word.
– Steve Pond, The Wrap
Truly, there is not a single performance that stands out over another as each one is amplified and balanced by those around them.
– Douglas Davidson, Elements of Madness
(Photo by Netflix)
Sacha Baron Cohen is a revelation.
– Rubin Safaya, Cinemalogue
Cohen [gives] the finest performance of his career.
– Kyle Pinion, ScreenRex
It’s Baron Cohen’s best performance ever.
– Helen O’Hara, Empire Magazine
One of the best performances of his career… his take on the freewheeling Abbie Hoffman proves a terrific showcase for the Borat star.
– Nate Adams, The Only Critic
It’s Cohen’s Hoffman — kooky and calculated all at once — who really elevates the movie whenever it starts to feel like a routine.
– Eric Kohn, IndieWire
His performance is meant to be hammy, [but] by not even sounding like Rubin, he reduces the actual whip-smart man into a Cheech and Chong impression.
– Robert Daniels, The Playlist
Strong gives arguably the weakest performance in a solid array of talent, his line delivery leaning at times toward the Cheech and Chong end of the spectrum.
– Ty Burr, Boston Globe
The actor, unfortunately, decides to adopt a voice that makes him sound exactly like Tommy Chong.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Strong is as quirky as it gets, one is bound to love this lovable and soulful act.
– Ben Rolph, Discussing Film
Strong is terrific and serves as a scene-stealer throughout.
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo
(Photo by Netflix)
As a history lesson, it plays more than a little fast and loose.
– Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
It’s a Hollywoodized recounting… Sorkin can’t resist manufacturing little arcs and dramatic payoffs, even when they contradict what we know about these men.
– A.A. Dowd, AV Club
It’s the little details Chicago 7 messily gets wrong.
– Robert Daniels, The Playlist
It was wilder than this. It was worse than this… soak up historical perspective, but then go read further official accounts and records afterward.
– Don Shanahan, 25YL
It’s as much about the constitutional American right to protest as it is about justice, which makes it incredibly relevant to where we are today.
– David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
Far from being a historical drama, Sorkin’s star-studded howl at injustice feels like a particularly eloquent news bulletin.
– Helen O’Hara, Empire Magazine
It adds up to something that could scarcely be more relevant: a salute to what political freedom in America really means.
– Owen Gleiberman, Variety
Sorkin, who wrote the script in 2007, understands that the story being told here is never not timely.
– Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
A period piece for multiple periods: The drama takes place in the ’60s, has the rousing flavor of a ‘90s popcorn thriller and also feels relevant and urgent in 2020.
– Brian Truitt, USA Today
The drama feels confined to the trial itself rather than taking a macro view of how this event shaped America or how it reflects our current situation.
– Matt Goldberg, Collider
The conclusions of the film are generally accepted today. This leaves audiences wondering why the film was made today, and not a decade ago.
– Alan French, We Live Entertainment
(Photo by Netflix)
So pleasurable in the execution that you’ll want to watch it again upon its ending.
– Douglas Davidson, Elements of Madness
Watching The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a little like reading Dickens: much of the fun lies in picking up on the signals of individual characters.
– Stephanie Zacharek, Time
The Trial of the Chicago 7 is kind of a feel-good movie, and yet there’s not much to feel uplifted about when you look at how institutional power responds to protest.
– Matt Goldberg, Collider
Even if The Trial of the Chicago 7 qualifies as catnip for Oscar voters, it’s a juicy courtroom drama, a sweeping ’60s panorama, an epic of liberal hand wringing and an all-you-can-eat actors’ buffet rolled into one.
– Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
The Trial of the Chicago 7 opens in select theaters on September 25, 2020 and streams on Netflix on October 16, 2020.
