The Bride! First Reviews: A Wild, Divisive Bonnie and Clyde Fever Dream
Critics are mixed on Maggie Gyllenhaal's take on the classic material, with some acknowleding its bold choices and standout performances while others remain befuddled by it.
Audiences have seen countless adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (and derivations thereof) over the years — the most recent one is even up for Best Picture this year — but rarely do we see one that takes as many chances as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s THE BRIDE! Starring Jessie Buckley as the titular character and Christian Bale as the original “monster,” this reimagining of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein set in 1930s Chicago follows the pair as they embark on a wild adventure full of violence, romance, music, and social upheaval.
Critics so far are mixed on the film, with some praising Gyllenhaal’s bold choices, the exquisite costumes, and both Buckley and Bale’s performances. Others, however, feel Gyllenhaal failed to exercise restraint and found the film noisy, chaotic, and unfocused.
Here’s what critics are saying about THE BRIDE!:
Does Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptatation work?
The Bride! (note the exclamation point!), is a whacky retro rollercoaster ride with lots of ideas to throw at the wall, along with various bodily fluids. Not everything sticks, but it will keep you squirming in your seat by delivering regular shock.
— India Block, London Evening Standard
It is brash, fun, and an exciting spin on such an iconic character in the world of film. Gyllenhaal allows the chaos of their love lead the charge in The Bride! and it makes for an exciting and thrilling time at the theaters.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
This weird, disruptive adaptation is overflowing with chaotic energy, and while it’s uneven at times, with an overwhelming feminist message, it’s hard to deny the electric presence of its stars and the sweeping romance that we can’t help but root for.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
The Bride! is big and risky in a different way, a fantastical creative explosion you can’t look away from.
— Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
Fans of Maggie Gyllenhaal will be disappointed; fans of Mary Shelley will be disappointed; fans of unhinged cinema will be morbidly intrigued.
— Leila Latif, Empire Magazine
Does she do anything new with the material?
In a time when action movies reign supreme at the box office and horror films have a solid foothold in the market share, The Bride! combines some of this and that, a little romance, etc., to create something truly unique, but that is steeped in previous works on the subject matter.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
It is by turns deeply familiar in its structure, following a lovers on the lam narrative with visuals that nod directly to Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, and daring in its reflection of corruption in modern society. It is also a disorientating trip into psychological despair, loneliness and indignation inspired by multiple figures in literature and film history.
— Katherine McLaughlin, SciFiNow
The Bride! embodies an unconventional and rebellious nature that makes it wholly unique. Whether it’s aware of its flaws or not, it’s not ashamed to lean completely in.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
A lot of the film relies on Ida’s lack of memory to build her relationship with Frank but it all builds to a beautiful love story between the two that we haven’t seen in the past.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
Is it reminiscent of any other films?
As they continue evading the law, the comparisons to Bonnie & Clyde become inevitable. The movie Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway starred in 60 years ago was groundbreaking and daring for Warner Bros. at the time, and in many ways The Bride! is a descendant of that kind of adventurous and risky filmmaking at the same studio.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Their union and journey are a wild ride from start to finish, with hints of Bonnie and Clyde and Natural Born Killers throughout their accidental crime spree.
— Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
The film draws odd parallels to Joker: Folie à Deux. Both films involve a couple of unconventional lovers who actively defy the system. Both center around a lawless character who becomes a public figure who inspires the masses to revolt against the order of things. They also both include a large amount of musical and dance numbers that seemingly come out of nowhere. But where Joker 2 failed, The Bride! succeeds.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
With The Bride! Gyllenhaal delivers a ravishingly designed, feminist punk rock opera that gives off similar vibes to Phantom of the Paradise and True Romance.
— Katherine McLaughlin, SciFiNow
The movie becomes like a shrill Bonnie and Clyde fever dream in which we have no reason to care about the fugitives so we just wait for them to be apprehended or plugged full of bullets.
— David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
A ghastly cross between Bonnie and Clyde and Joker: Folie à Deux, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s erratic gothic romance The Bride! begins with a puzzling prologue and closes with a bone-headed finale. In the middle, a garbled story that’s constantly interrupting itself.
— Chris Wasser, Irish Independent
How is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directing?
Every scene, dance number, and trip to the cinema has its purpose, and that’s how Gyllenhaal manages to piece together these seemingly dissonant moments into something harmonious.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
Gyllenhaal has created a number of great set pieces, but a scene set in a nightclub invaded by Frank and The Bride is a gem, turning into a choreographed dance that’s driven by this scary pair.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Gyllenhaal’s second feature as writer-director, following the more modestly scaled and psychologically layered The Lost Daughter, is certainly a big swing and The Bride! deserves credit for its ambition and its stylish visuals.
— David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
The results aren’t always satisfying, but what’s satisfying is to see Gyllenhaal operate in this limitless “I’ll try anything once” mode, an entitlement rarely afforded to women behind the camera.
— Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
For every single filmmaking choice possible, Gyllenhaal makes ten. The film is a love letter to cinema, a road movie, a tribute to female detective work, a revenge story, a tale about police corruption and kind of a musical. But none of these cohere as a whole, and the only thing that sticks in the mind is that Gyllenhaal couldn’t pleasingly frame a musical number if her life depended on it.
— Leila Latif, Empire Magazine
What does the film do well?
The energy throughout is electric — good news for anyone who thought del Toro’s Frankenstein was gorgeous but airless — and the film’s subversive interpretation not just of The Bride of Frankenstein but also of 1930s cinema and culture is dazzling.
— Cheryl Eddy, io9
What the film does have going for it is committed performances from its talented cast, and make-up and costume design that is a true feast for the eyes.
— Leila Latif, Empire Magazine
Gyllenhaal has imagined a world where everything is heightened and maximalist — from The Bride’s signature burnt orange dress of puff sleeves and cut-on-the-bias hem (straight from the genius mind of Sandy Powell), to her teased-and-crimped hair; from the visuals Sin City-adjacent aesthetics, to an aura that frequently winks at film noir, everything here is considered at length and thought-provoking to look at. They don’t always mesh well, but it still inspires one to applaud the wild imagination.
— Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
Does it have a strong feminist message?
Just as Bonnie and Clyde spoke to its time, this film exists in the post #metoo era and it screams with fury for those who have been silenced while also acknowledging the bravery it takes to stand up against those in power.
— Katherine McLaughlin, SciFiNow
It is a film that has many subtleties and underlying messages that are not overtly shoved in one’s face, but rather are simmering just below the surface, and that make the audience think about what they just witnessed.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
For a film this uninhibited and varied, Gyllenhaal’s ending feels too tidily feminist in an unsophisticated, you-go-girl kind of way that comic book adaptations have been guilty of in the past decade. While she tries to bring the monster inside all of us out of the shadows, she errs on the side of the basic that feels out of step with the world that Mary Shelley conjured up.
— Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
Most of the men in the film are almost cartoonishly villainous at times, and the Bride’s feminist monologues can often veer a little too far off the rails and end up feeling like Gyllenhaal speaking directly through her character.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
The movie’s obvious message — “I’m not the Bride of anybody!” — is foghorn loud yet completely ineffective, a la “Kids, don’t go subway surfing.”
— Johnny Oleksinski, NY Post
Unfortunately, The Bride! arrives not as feminist triumph but as a true hot mess.
— Leila Latif, Empire Magazine
How is Jessie Buckley’s performance?
If anyone needs proof at this point, it is clear Buckley is the kind of generational talent you simply cannot take your eyes aways from. She powers through this role completely unafraid to go places that would be unimaginable for most actors. It is a performance with no guard rails, no nets, and no fear. She nails it.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
There’s another barnstorming performance from Jessie Buckley as the sinister spouse, leaving savage bite marks all over the scenery and on her gallant co-star Christian Bale. It’s her name, not the title, that deserves the exclamation mark… Without Buckley, this would have been lacking; with her, it’s a very bizarre and enjoyable spectacle of married bliss.
— Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
It’s fun to witness an unhinged Buckley lose herself in those lines, giving her Grade-A pipes a real workout.
— Tomris Laffly, RogerEbert.com
Buckley offers a no-holds-barred performance and gives her all into the incredibly physical role of playing the Bride.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
Film bros who turned their noses up at Buckley’s Hamnet performance will be running screaming from the cinema. Fans of her incredible range and willingness to push a performance to its utmost limit will be enthralled and (occasionally) appalled.
— India Block, London Evening Standard
The implied terror is merely grating dialogue and a central performance so loud, fussy and mannered that it mutes any power to unsettle that the story might have had.
— David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
Buckley especially needed to be reined in. She brought me back to her performance as Sally Bowles in London’s West End production of Cabaret. When she can’t think of anything else to do, she throws her head back and laughs maniacally.
— Johnny Oleksinski, NY Post
What about Christian Bale?
As for Bale this oddly is one of his most appealing turns in years, ultimately making this monster sadly human, a creature looking for love and getting more than he bargained for.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Bale is unafraid to play into Frank’s desire for connection and relative innocence when it comes to romance, and his love for cinema and musicals makes him not only relatable but endearing.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
The kind of lovesick performance that Bale gives as Frank makes this take on the Creature such a fascinating one to watch.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
One of many times in which The Bride! is unfortunate in its timing so soon after Guillermo del Toro’s ravishing Frankenstein is the lab reanimation process, absent here of any mounting tension. The same applies to Bale’s monster, who swoons and chuckles over elegant movie musicals featuring matinee idol Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal), but can’t match the depth of feeling Jacob Elordi brought to the role for del Toro.
— David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
Bale blends Batman and Gollum.
— Johnny Oleksinski, NY Post
And the two of them together?
Bale complements Buckley well, and together they are a Tour de Force to be reckoned with.
— Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Buckley gives it such outrageous craziness and she is a great pairing with the stolid Bale, especially when they go into a uncontrolled jerking and twitching choreography with the other revellers at a classy white-tie event.
— Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
Thanks to the bubbling chemistry between Bale and Buckley, it’s not hard to be convinced of Frank and the Bride’s love for each other. It’s a wild roller coaster of a relationship, one built on shaky foundations at best, but the magnetic draw the two characters have toward each other makes it almost impossible not to root for them.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
Both Buckley and Bale poured their hearts into the relationship between these two characters and it shows in how they each function throughout The Bride!.
— Rachel Leishman, The Mary Sue
The movie goes full-tilt for two hours, and you may be exhausted by the end — but Gyllenhaal and Buckley absolutely prove that sometimes the most audacious choices are the exact right ones.
— Cheryl Eddy, io9
Bale and Buckley’s acting is committed, oh yes. To a fault. Never do you believe them in these poorly constructed roles or sympathize with their us-against-the-world plight.
— Johnny Oleksinski, NY Post
Does it have any problems?
Without the romance anchoring The Bride!, its many in-your-face elements might get a little tiresome. There are spontaneous dance numbers, gun battles, angry mobs with torches, a detective duo (Peter Sarsgaard and Penélope Cruz) chasing after the rampaging monsters in what feels like their own separate movie, and a whole plot about corruption and mobsters that also feels a bit underbaked.
— Cheryl Eddy, io9
The very capable ensemble, all of whom have done impressive work elsewhere, mostly gets smothered by the over-conceptualized, over-intellectualized approach to the material.
— David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
The Bride! is too easily distracted by its flash-bang machine gun and electric marquee world – there’s an entire detective subplot led by Peter Sarsgaard and an underserved Penélope Cruz – to make much sense out of its own manifesto. It presents female rage convincingly. But what does it have to say about it?
— Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent (UK)
The Bride! embodies an unconventional and rebellious nature that makes it wholly unique. Whether it’s aware of its flaws or not, it’s not ashamed to lean completely in. In many respects, The Bride! can come off as being just a little too much. Too much romance, too much theatricality, too much feminism — but sometimes, too much of a good thing is still a good thing.
— Therese Lacson, Collider
But ultimately what the film most exudes is incompetence. (Rumours of reshoots abound.) Despite flashes of glory, the editing is chaotic. Character appearances and costumes appear out of sequence.
— Leila Latif, Empire Magazine
Overwritten and wildly overacted, The Bride! is full of ideas, but the shouty and showy execution lacks discipline and depth.
— Chris Wasser, Irish Independent
THE BRIDE! opens in theaters on March 6, 2026.
