Two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson has already had a powerful profession, starring in movies together with Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit and Misplaced in Translation, and now she’s taking her skills behind the digicam. Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Nice hits the 2025 film calendar on September 26, and critics are weighing in on the drama.
Eleanor the Nice stars June Squibb — who opened up about what it’s wish to be directed by Scarlett Johansson — because the titular Eleanor, a 94-year-old girl who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a younger journalism scholar (Erin Kellyman) at a Holocaust survivors group. Kristy Puchko of Mashable says Squibb carries the film with a side-splittingly humorous and tear-jerkingly poignant efficiency. The critic additionally praises the director’s (barely bumpy) exploration of grief, writing:
To Johansson’s credit score, the film — whereas leaping areas, delving into flashbacks, and dealing with a number of delicate subjects — flows effectively, carried by the display screen presence of Squibb and her terrific grandma-granddaughter chemistry with Kellyman. They share a love and respect that by no means fumbles into the pitfalls of ageist assumptions of both the aged or the younger. Nevertheless, the ultimate act will get away from Johansson, because it veers from a reasonably grounded movie into the treacly sentimentality of a Hallmark film.
Lindsey Bahr of the AP charges it 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that the story turns into much less about how Eleanor is processing her grief and extra about her lie rising uncontrolled. As for the director, the critic says now we have but to see what ScarJo brings to the desk. In Bahr’s phrases:
Johansson directs the proceedings merely, like a traditional New York character drama, permitting the performances to shine over the filmmaking, however who she is as a filmmaker stays to be seen. Squibb and Kellyman, each terrific, are the true causes to hunt out Eleanor the Nice. The movie could journey over its personal contrivances however their performances will depart you moved.
Monica Castillo of RogerEbert.com additionally offers the film 2.5 out of 4 stars. She struggles with the morality of Eleanor the Nice’s story, feeling June Squibb’s character is simply too simply absolved of the damage she causes via her dishonest actions. Nevertheless, Scarlett Johansson’s fearlessness in tackling complicated characters is promising for her future, and Squibb’s efficiency is memorable. Castillo continues:
The movie itself has its charming moments. Johansson and director of pictures Hélène Louvart give Squibb a glowing highlight, and he or she wears it effectively. There are quite a few close-ups of the actress, giving her the display screen time and house to really feel out her character’s conflicts, capturing her coy smiles, her impish delight over a slicing comment when it lands on its goal, and panicked frowns when she realizes her stolen story has breached containment.
For some critics, although, the primary character’s deception is simply too despicable to get previous. Nick Schager of the Each day Beast calls Scarlett Johansson’s path “unremarkable,” and says Eleanor is a “charlatan,” whose lie is akin to stolen valor. The film makes a “unusual and misguided” try to justify her actions within the title of grief, however not even June Squibb can pull it off. The critic writes:
The story of a girl who does an unthinkable factor and is subsequently absolved of her sins by narrative contrivances and screwy logic, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut is a misguided wannabe-uplifting saga about grief, forgiveness, and preserving vital recollections alive. Squibb could also be as nice as all the time, however this wrongheaded Holocaust variation on Expensive Evan Hansen fails to stay as much as her character’s nickname.
Tim Grierson of AV Membership offers Eleanor the Nice a C-, saying the “tonally tough” movie is insultingly syrupy in its efforts to place a contented face on the trauma that it intends to memorialize. Probably the most “aggravating” half, in accordance with the critic, is Scarlett Johansson’s insistence that we discover Eleanor endearing. Grierson continues:
Is Eleanor The Nice the melancholy story of a grief-stricken girl? Or is there one thing extra devious (or demented) in Eleanor’s flouting of the reality? A sharper film would have explored these intriguing questions. However Johansson is after one thing far tidier and syrupy. Her manipulative movie introduces an inherently nervy premise however then shortly and unconvincingly pivots away from its extra critical implications. Squibb performs Eleanor with blandly crotchety adorableness, her incurious film ignoring any probably compelling inside battle.
The story in Eleanor the Nice is difficult, to make certain, and heart-wrenching on a lot of ranges. Whereas the critics agree June Squibb is fabulous, they don’t appear to agree on what this says about Scarlett Johansson as a director or if the movie accomplishes what it units out to.
If you wish to draw your individual conclusions in regards to the movie, Eleanor the Nice is in theaters now.