The Program: reviews

What the critics say average 5.3 from 14 outlets

• 8.0 The GuardianCatherine Shoard It?s a fluid and nippy telling of a tale that still seems strangely urgent. Read
• 8.0 EmpireNev Pierce The inside track on one of sport?s biggest scandals, nimbly shot and sharply scripted, powered by an outstanding performance from Ben Foster and the quiet integrity of Chris O?Dowd. Read
• 6.3 New York PostSara Stewart It?s basically a narrative spin on Alex Gibney?s 2013 documentary 'The Armstrong Lie', only with less cycling footage. This is a plus for those of us easily bored by such things (so many interchangeable mountain passes and neon jerseys!), but there isn?t a ton of new material here. Read
• 6.0 The TelegraphTim Robey You sense structural uncertainty about what the Armstrong saga connotes and how exactly it was begging to be told. But you can?t take your eyes off Foster. Read
• 5.8 HitfixGregory Elwood 'The Program' works when it has you questioning how on earth this secret could be kept so quiet for so long when so many people knew exactly what was going on. Read
• 5.8 The A.V. ClubMike D'Angelo It?s a rote hatchet job, rehashing information that virtually everyone already knows, but at least it facilitates one of the year?s oddest and gutsiest performances. Read
• 5.0 Screen DailyFionnuala Halligan For all that it promises the thrill of high-speed racing, the crush of the peloton, and the drama of disgrace, 'The Program' works best when it deals with this fascinating case of investigative journalism which saw Walsh doggedly pursue his target through 13 years and the temporary loss of his own reputation. Read
• 5.0 VarietyGuy Lodge In the film?s richest performance, Plemons beautifully teases out the ambiguities and potential hypocrisies of Landis? own moral position, tracing Armstrong?s slippery downward spiral almost in spite of himself. Read
• 5.0 CinemaníaIrene Crespo A protagonist in one of his best performances, Ben Foster giving everything he can, but without depth in a photograph. Everything we see, we knew, and as always, Frears not scratch to get something else. Read
• 4.2 The PlaylistNicola Grozdanovic A couple of exhilarating cycling scenes, and a pretty solid lead performance, does not a good movie make. Read
• 4.0 The Hollywood ReporterLeslie Felperin It's so preoccupied with hammering home the point that Armstrong was a liar and a cheat, it can't risk giving him any credit for having charisma to spare, or at least enough cunning to know how to manipulate our current fantasies about heroic sportsmen. Read
• 4.0 Los Angeles TimesStaff 'The Program' pedals fast, but the end result is little more than a psychologically shallow recap reel. Read
• 4.0 New York TimesStephen Holden 'The Program', much to its detriment, concentrates almost exclusively on the history of the doping effort. Read
• 3.0 El MundoLuis Martínez 'The program ' does not work but next to 'The Lance Armstrong Lie' by Alex Gibney, is reduced to the status of paradigm, for example, all that should never be a biopic. Read