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Reviews

Ann Hornday, Washington Post:

In this lively, sometimes deliriously scattershot biopic about the conductor Leonard Bernstein, [Bradley] Cooper doesn’t educate the audience by way of a dutiful Wiki-ography as much as tell us what he thinks matters most about Bernstein’s life: in this case, his relationship with his wife, Felicia, the bisexuality he largely hid, his compulsive curiosity about people and the ecstatic bursts of creativity that sustained him.

Stephanie Zacharek, Time:

[Leonard Bernstein] lured you in with his gusto and grace, and you’d learned something — he made you feel respected, not duped. No wonder Lydia Tár adored him.

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair:

The union of Bernstein and [actress Felicia] Montealegre was peculiar or progressive, depending on whom you asked. Bernstein had many affairs with men, a fact from which the film — while still devoted to its mission of depicting a deep and abiding heterosexual marriage — does not shy away.

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times:

He was also gay, though maybe bisexual; the movie nimbly avoids labeling him.

Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone:

Cooper is not only a chameleon, fully embodying Bernstein and his restless genius whilst never striking a false note, but a truly gifted filmmaker. A Star Is Born was no fluke.

David Sims, The Atlantic:

Here, as Bernstein, he’s clad in layers of makeup (the controversial nose looks less pronounced in action) that impressively mimic the man’s real face but somehow make him feel harder to reach.

Justin Chang, LA Times:

[Carey] Mulligan shows us Felicia’s ferocity but also her delicacy, her resignation at dwelling in her husband’s artistic shadow and her final, wrenching acknowledgment of how much she needs him, flawed and faithless though he may be.