Peter Redshaw

Pitt and Clooney are their usual, charming selves but they obviously decided to dial in their performances and they cannot lift this lightweight, formulaic film beyond the level of desperately mediocre. I missed 30 minutes in the middle (had to fix a bunged up fish tank pump) and it mattered not one jot. Didn’t even have to ask what had happened as all of it was utterly predictable and tiresome.

Leaden and wooden. A disappointing combination.

Went in with high expectations but was very underwhelmed. It’s far too long and frankly dull. There is so much emphasis on WHAT Bernstein did that it really neglects the WHY. We never get under the skin of Bernstein and don’t get to explore why he was so exceptional. Everything is presented at face value. There’s no progression in his character and so no empathy for him. It failed to make me care about what happened next to him, or Felicia his wife, or anyone else. Oh, and there is a HUGE amount of mumbling. Half the time I couldn’t make out a word that Bradley Cooper was saying. The acid test is that when I went to make a cuppa about halfway through, I didn’t bother to pause the film. Made no difference at all. Far and away the least impressive of all the Oscar nominated films.

Terrific first half - credible and chilling. But the second half gets very silly as Pike’s character turns into James Bond and Dinklage’s bodyguards seem to have been hired from Home Alone.

Don’t worry about the plot. Just enjoy.