As anticipation builds for the Frankenstein-inspired romance featuring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, early reviews have started drawing attention. Its Rotten Tomatoes score has also pushed the film into the spotlight ahead of its theatrical release.

What critics are saying about The Bride! in reviews

Critics have offered mixed responses to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!, highlighting both its ambition and uneven execution.

Tasha Robinson of Polygon wrote, “The Bride! seems like it was meant to be analyzed at length, with fans seizing on different elements as the key to the whole shambling conglomeration.” Amy Nicholson of the Los Angeles Times described it as “a maniacal assemblage of ’30s musicals, ’40s noirs, 19th century literature and 21st century ideology.”

Jonathan Sim of ComingSoon called The Bride! “a swooning, soot-streaked fever dream of a movie” and praised Jessie Buckley’s “fully committed, go-for-broke performance” as Ida. He wrote that the film’s bold style “swings for the fences” and gave it a score of 8/10.

Several reviewers also commented on the film’s stylistic risks and narrative structure. Caryn James of the BBC wrote, “At times it’s as if the film itself was stitched together from the parts of other movies, but collecting all those bits and pieces is a sign of Gyllenhaal’s huge scope and ambition.” Linda Marric of HeyUGuys called it “an intriguing but deeply flawed experiment.” The review rated it three out of five.

Brian Truitt of USA Today wrote, “While imperfections exist in the violent, genre-defying romance, they don’t dim Gyllenhaal’s clear-eyed passion, grand ideas and big swings spattered on the screen.” Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars. His review described it as a “bizarre” spectacle.

Negative reviews also appeared among critics on the site. Tim Robey of the Daily Telegraph wrote, “So much talent has been wasted here… and while provocations abound…there’s a shallowness at the film’s core.” Donald Clarke of the Irish Times said the film “is loud, brash and wilfully discordant” but also shows “a contrasting strain of clunkiness” in his two out of five review.

The Bride! gets a modest score on Rotten Tomatoes

The film currently holds a 60 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes from 86 critic reviews.

Maggie Gyllenhaal directs The Bride!, which stars Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Warner Bros. will release the horror romance drama in theaters on March 6, 2026, and the film runs for 2 hours and 6 minutes.