Brexit: The Uncivil War: reviews

What the critics say average 7.7 from 21 outlets

• 10 The TelegraphAsa Bennett He is basically what Sherlock Holmes would be like as a political strategist – powered by learning, huge self-belief and a desire to tear apart "conventional wisdom" – so the casting makes perfect sense. Read
• 10 The Irish TimesPeter Crawley Brexit: The Uncivil War, works like a political tragicomedy, but unravelling the role of data mining in the Leave campaign in conspiratorial whispers gives writer James Graham and director Toby Haynes some of the verve of a tech thriller. Read
• 10 Financial TimesSuzi Feay An exhilarating, almost farcical dramatisation of 2016's successful Vote Leave campaign and its Machiavellian director. Read
• 8.3 Entertainment WeeklyDarren Franich This fascinating first-draft-of-history thriller captures the tragic complexity, techno-paranoia and Orwellian absurdity of the Brexit vote.
• 8.0 The Hollywood ReporterTim Goodman Brexit is briskly entertaining, driven by a different kind of lead performance from Benedict Cumberbatch — he's less leading man (he's balding and pasty here) and more leading brain, which of course he also excels at. Read
• 8.0 The AtlanticSophie Gilbert Almost inappropriately entertaining. Read
• 8.0 SlateJune Thomas 90 minutes of shocking but surprisingly entertaining political theater. Read
• 8.0 The New YorkerTroy Patterson It's a crisp political-messaging procedural, outlining a triumph of data over knowledge and tribal fear over human reason. Read
• 8.0 Los Angeles TimesLorraine Ali The film does an impressive job explaining the complicated operation while still delivering a fast-paced and entertaining story. Read
• 8.0 BBCWill Gompertz So compelling is the actor's performance, I took to the internet to find out more about the man he plays. Read
• 8.0 The TimesCarol Midgley James Graham's drama was rollickingly good entertainment, in a heart-sinking "oh, but this is still our real-life car crash" kind of way. Read
• 8.0 The IndependentHugh Montgomery That aside, what Graham has produced is an engrossing second draft of history, one that amid all the continuing mayhem offers some kind of manageable perspective on a raging nation governed by charlatans and manipulated by algorithms. Read
• 8.0 The Arts DeskJasper Rees In the end, the Leave story is just better drama. Its fictions trumped the facts. Read
• 7.5 Paste MagazineAmy Glynn Reviewer Me says it's entertaining, Cumberbatch is great, the script is pretty good. Philosopher Me still has a lot of questions.
• 7.5 Roger EbertBrian Tallerico What Brexit deftly captures is how Cummings sensed a growing majority of disappointment in his own country before the opposition knew how to bring those people back to their side. Read
• 7.5 The A.V. ClubAlex McLevy Graham's script captures the nuances of Britain's roiling identity crisis with deft insight Read
• 7.0 The Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert It's a brisk, superficial, but smart film that essentially reminds us — repeatedly — of the potential outcomes in all the information we willingly provide about ourselves online. Read
• 7.0 Decine21José María Aresté One of the best films of recent years about the world of politics and the current context shaped by new technologies and social discontent. Read
• 6.0 New York TimesJames Poniewozik Cumberbatch's tight-wired performance is the best thing in this brisk but mechanical retread of recent events. Read
• 5.0 VarietyDaniel D'Addario Brexit's problem isn't that it is too flip about recent history. It's that it takes every possible branch of history seriously, and doesn't do the work of discerning which ones matter more. Read
• 4.0 The GuardianLucy Mangan As a result of Cummings' centrality and portrayal as a political savant, everyone around him is reduced to a cipher. Read