---
title: "Judy"
year: 2019
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/judy"
fi1m_score: 65
critics_score: 72
critics_reviews: 26
published: "2026-09-17T12:10:22.069780+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T12:10:47.836884+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Judy (2019)

Directed by Rupert Goold · 1h 58m · MPA PG-13 · Drama, History, Music

**Fi1m score: 65** · Critics 72 from 26 reviews

*In a sentence:* Zellweger climbs onto the stage on legs that barely work and the rest of the film stands in the wings applauding

> Renée Zellweger’s Judy Garland, hoarse, brittle and still able to hold a room, is the whole reason to watch. Rupert Goold’s film is tidy and well-mannered around her, and its flashbacks to the MGM years keep explaining what she has already shown us.

## Synopsis

Los Angeles, 1968. Judy Garland (Renée Zellweger) has two children to support, Lorna (Bella Ramsey) and Joey (Lewin Lloyd), and her ex-husband Sid Luft (Rufus Sewell) wants them to live with him. To keep them she needs money, and the only offer is a run of shows at the Talk of the Town nightclub in London from the impresario Bernard Delfont (Michael Gambon). She flies over without the children and is put in the care of Rosalyn Wilder (Jessie Buckley), whose job is to get her on stage. Between shows the film cuts back to the MGM lot of the *Wizard of Oz* years and a teenage Judy (Darci Shaw) taking orders from Louis B. Mayer (Richard Cordery).

## Review

Rupert Goold’s film takes the last year of Judy Garland’s life, adapted by Tom Edge from Peter Quilter’s stage play *End of the Rainbow*, and puts the whole weight of it on Renée Zellweger. She carries it. What she is carrying is a neat, well-mannered biopic that lays out the facts of a ruined woman in the right order and then reaches for comfort at every point where the story wants to hurt. Zellweger is the reason to watch, and she is a good enough reason.

She does not do an impression. The voice is lower and more ragged than Garland’s, the singing is her own and recorded live, and she is not trying to match the records. What she gets is the body: the shoulders up round the ears, the hands that never settle, a walk from the dressing room to the wings that looks as if it might not make the distance. When she reaches the microphone on the first night at the Talk of the Town and the band starts, we sat forward. We did not know whether she would get through the song, and the film, for once, did not seem to know either.

Ole Birkeland shoots the London scenes in brown and gold, hotel lamps and stage spots, with the club audience left as dark shapes beyond the footlights. Kave Quinn’s Talk of the Town is red velvet and small round tables, a room built to feel intimate from the floor and enormous from the stage. Jany Temime puts Zellweger in sequinned trouser suits that catch every light in the club and make her look smaller inside them. Gabriel Yared’s score keeps out of the way of the songs, which is the right call; the strings only swell between them, when the film is trying to persuade us of something.

The trouble is the flashbacks. The script cuts back to the MGM lot of the *Wizard of Oz* years, where the teenage Judy (Darci Shaw) is refused a hamburger, handed pills to sleep and pills to wake, and told by Louis B. Mayer (Richard Cordery) that she owes the studio everything. None of it is needed. Zellweger has already shown us a woman who cannot eat, cannot sleep and cannot believe she is loved; the flashbacks stop the film to explain her, and Melanie Oliver’s cuts land on cue, a pill in 1968 answered by a pill in 1939. By the third of them we were impatient, and we stayed impatient.

Around the star the cast is thin because the script has left them so. Jessie Buckley, as Rosalyn Wilder, the assistant whose job is to get Garland on stage, does a great deal with a clipboard and a series of pained looks, and the film’s best quiet scenes are the two of them in a dressing room. Finn Wittrock’s Mickey Deans is a suit with a smile; we never learn what he sees in her or what he wants. Rufus Sewell plays Sid Luft as a wall for Garland to shout at down the phone. Michael Gambon turns up as Bernard Delfont, delivers his lines in the voice of a man who has already been paid, and leaves.

One scene shows what the film might have been. Garland leaves the club with two fans, Dan (Andy Nyman) and Stan (Daniel Cerqueira), goes back to their flat and cooks them eggs. Nothing much happens. She asks about their lives, they tell her what her songs meant to them in years when it was not safe to say so, and the film sits still and lets Zellweger listen. It moved us more than anything on the stage did, because for ten minutes nobody in the flat was performing.

The finale we will not describe, except to say that it reaches for a lift the story does not support, and most of the audience we saw it with went along gladly. Goold has made a film that is decent to its subject in the way a good obituary is decent, and Zellweger has made something rougher and truer inside it. See it for her, in a cinema if you can, where the songs have room. It runs 118 minutes and carries a 12A.

*Fi1m score 65, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Judy, and nearly all like it for the same reason. Renée Zellweger’s performance as Judy Garland in her final London season is the centre of almost every review, praised for raw feeling over mimicry and for her own singing. The stage sequences draw the warmest notices, with one critic singling out a single-take opening-night number as the film’s high point. Several reviews credit Rupert Goold with finding a darker, sadder note than the usual star biopic.

The reservations cluster around everything else. The flashbacks to Garland’s MGM childhood are widely found heavy-handed, the supporting cast thin, and the uplifting finale out of key with the sadness of the story. A few go further: The New York Times and Vulture think the film flattens Garland into a martyr, and RogerEbert.com, one of only two outright negative reviews, calls the performance itself an overdone impression. The spread is wide, from unqualified raves to those dismissals, but the middle is large and fond.

### Reviews we read (26)

- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (3/5/5): Zellweger delivers a performance of awe-striking confidence and emotion in a music biopic that transcends its subject. It is an old-school tragedy deserving of the name. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/judy)
- **Sight and Sound**, Lisa Mullen (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the biopic a moving, fullhearted tribute to Judy Garland that probes sentimentality and self-obsession. Zellweger's jaw-dropping performance fills the film with nuance, warmth and narrative purpose. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/judy-review-this-moving-biopic-rings-with-renee-zellwegers-star-quality)
- **The Independent** (90/100, inferred): The review praises Renée Zellweger's performance as overwhelming and magnetic, capturing Judy Garland's trauma, hunger, and resilience in a way that overshadows the film's conventional biopic structure. It singles out Zellweger for turning the film into something more ambitious than a simple tribute by embodying broader themes of industry sacrifice and societal pressure on women. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/judy-garland-film-review-renee-zellweger-cast-release-date-a9128986.html)
- **The Times** (90/100, inferred): Zellweger delivers the most fiercely committed performance of her career in this brilliant biopic. She devours the role of late-era Garland, making it one of the great film-star biopics. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/judy-review-zellweger-shines-as-a-star-forged-in-turmoil-nmpkfc380)
- **Variety**, Guy Lodge (90/100, inferred): Zellweger gives her all in a gutsy, can't-look-away portrait of Garland's final year that prioritizes raw feeling over technical mimicry, with Goold and the star illuminating something of each other in a star vehicle that holds up its end. The shambolic London residency is affectingly rendered as one star working through her own story via another's. [Read](https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/judy-review-renee-zellweger-1203316871/)
- **The i Paper**, Matt Wolf (★★★★): Zellweger delivers an empathic, soulful performance that earns its Oscar buzz, matched by a screenplay and direction that find human depth in Garland's final London season. The critic singles out the way the film peers into the heart of darkness while honouring the icon through Zellweger's singing and acting. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/judy-review-film-release-showtimes-renee-zellweger-rupert-goold-garland-346536)
- **Financial Times**, Nigel Andrews (★★★☆☆): Zellweger is tremendous, throwing everything at her portrayal of Garland. She looks, sounds and even sings like her at best, though the film sentimentalises the ailing performer’s cabaret run and supporting cast is mostly lifeless. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/749ca8b2-e50e-11e9-9743-db5a370481bc)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): Zellweger gives one of her best performances ever as Garland, bringing nuance, depth, and effective live renditions of classics that extend her range and ensure the film resonates despite being fairly standard biopic fare. The work reminds viewers of Zellweger's impressive presence and portrays the Garland we have read about with heart. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2019-09-26/judy-review-renee-zellweger)
- **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): Rupert Goold's film is an awards-friendly biopic that strikes a darker, maudlin note, with Zellweger giving the performance of her career as a wrecked Judy Garland. It is solid and competent but never transcends its one-woman show structure. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/judy-telluride-review/5142232.article)
- **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): Zellweger is phenomenally good in this captivating account of Garland’s final London concert run. The film is Zellweger’s throughout, with strong performance moments on stage but some heavy-handed flashbacks and peripheral supporting characters. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/05/judy-review-renee-zellweger-garland-final-years)
- **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (70/100, inferred): Zellweger delivers a transcendent, incarnation-like performance as Garland that fuses impersonation with deep emotional sympathy, especially in a bravura single-take opening-night number, though the rest of the film relies on dramatic clichés and conventional direction. The script, based on Peter Quilter's play, effectively conveys the abusive studio system and Garland's longing for ordinary family life. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/judy-reviewed-renee-zellwegers-transcendent-performance-as-judy-garland)
- **Time Out**, Phil de Semlyen (70/100, inferred): The critic calls the drama strenuous but soapy, with Zellweger as its trump card in a jittery, wounded performance that shows startling transformation. Director Goold subverts expectations in an Oscar-reel-friendly showcase. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/judy)
- **Empire**, Ian Freer (60/100, inferred): The film is an enjoyable, sincere backstage drama bolstered by Zellweger's strong performance but never exposes the dark heart of Garland’s last years or achieves real complexity. It singles out the simplistic flashbacks and feel-good climax that diminish a sad, tragic story, though stage sequences and some character moments are praised. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/judy/)
- **The Telegraph** (3/5): Zellweger rises to the occasion in a dreamlike portrait of Garland on the rocks. The script zooms in on the car-crash years with tabloidy zeal that feels faintly unseemly, though the bond between Judy and her audience comes through. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/judy-review-dreamlike-portrait-garland-rocks-prurient-for-comfort/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (50/100, inferred): Renée Zellweger plays variations on a late-career Judy Garland as a worried mother, needy lover, disaster, and legend in a gentler, squarer mash note that is part maternal melodrama and part martyr story. The film is based on the play End of the Rainbow and focuses on her London comeback attempts but avoids the rawer, scarier aspects of the real Garland. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/movies/judy-review.html)
- **Vulture** (50/100, inferred): The film is more interested in Garland's tragedies, addictions, and breakdowns than her full humanity, flattening her into a martyr figure despite Zellweger's committed and electric performance in key scenes. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2019/09/judy-movie-review-rene-zellweger-plays-judy-garland.html)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Monica Castillo (30/100, inferred): The film revisits the final months of Judy Garland's life, highlighting her struggles with finances, custody, and performance pressures alongside flashbacks to her abusive childhood at MGM. Zellweger's performance is seen as an overdone impression that distracts, with poor direction of musical numbers, though the contextualization of Garland's early trauma is a humanistic strength. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/judy-movie-review-2019)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Stephen Farber (30/100, inferred): Zellweger delivers a bravura performance as the aging Garland, especially in the musical numbers, but the film is undermined by unnecessary flashbacks and an uneven script that fails to trust its present-day story. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/judy-review-1235901/)
- **Paste**, Joelle Monique (7.6): Zellweger gives a stunning, transformative performance that centers the story on the person rather than the celebrity, highlighting Garland's emotional connection to her audience and the gay community in an otherwise standard biopic. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/judy-garland/judy-review)
- **The Wrap** (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Renée Zellweger’s masterful, transformative performance as Judy Garland, in which she fully disappears into the role. The film is noted for its empathetic portrayal of Garland’s later-life struggles and resilience without excessive pathos. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/judy-film-review-renee-zellweger-garland-2019/)
- **Collider**, Perri Nemiroff (B+): The film is structurally flawed with weak transitions but effective overall, thanks to Zellweger's exceptional, eye-catching performance capturing Garland's volatility and pure desires amid a tragic life story. [Read](https://collider.com/judy-movie-review-renee-zellweger/)
- **The Playlist**, Tomris Laffly (B+): Zellweger delivers a sensational performance as a bruised yet dignified and triumphant Garland, making the semi-conventional biopic worthwhile through her poise and presence. Goold excels in the stage performance scenes but leaves some relationships underexplored. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/renee-zellweger-judy-review-20190831/)
- **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson (80/100, inferred): Zellweger brings fine art to this mainstream biopic of Garland's later life, capturing her paradoxical power and fragility with precise body language, emotional intensity in stage performances, and smaller telling moments. The film elegantly balances her razzle-dazzle with underlying melancholy. [Read](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/judy-2019-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)
- **NME**, Alex Flood (4/5): The review highlights Zellweger's magnetic and note-perfect performance as the film's highlight, noting some issues with the uplifting tone of the finale but concluding her work makes it worthwhile. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/judy-review-renee-zellweger-garland-oscar-2554223)
- **Film Stories**, Eddie Charles (75/100, inferred): Zellweger gives a gargantuan, complex performance as Judy Garland, capturing her spirit and complexities through restrained and grandiose moments as well as impressive vocals. The film respectfully portrays her talent amid tragedy but features some clumsy subplots and ends on an overly schmaltzy note. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/judy-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (3/5): The critic finds the biopic uneven and surface-level but praises Zellweger's extraordinary, transformative performance as the standout element, especially her raw rendition of 'Over the Rainbow'. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a29185585/renee-zellweger-judy-review-oscar-best-actress/)

## Details

- **Director:** Rupert Goold
- **Director:** Rupert Goold
- **Screenplay:** Tom Edge
- **Cinematography:** Ole Birkeland
- **Editor:** Melanie Oliver
- **Music:** Gabriel Yared
- **Production design:** Kave Quinn
- **Costume design:** Jany Temime
- **Producer:** David Livingstone
- **Cast:** Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland; Jessie Buckley as Rosalyn Wilder; Finn Wittrock as Mickey Deans; Rufus Sewell as Sid Luft; Michael Gambon as Bernard Delfont; Richard Cordery as Louis B. Mayer; Royce Pierreson as Burt Rhodes; Darci Shaw as Young Judy
- **Runtime:** 1h 58m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13
- **Release (the US):** 4 October 2019
- **Genres:** Drama, History, Music
- **Budget:** $10 million
- **Box office:** $39 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZypuwVApJ0

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $3.99, uhd
- Apple TV: buy $9.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, KR, MX, NO, PA, PL, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2020: Best Actress (won)
- Golden Globes 2020: Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (won)

## If you liked this

- *A Star Is Born* (1954): Garland herself, at full power, in the story this film keeps gesturing at.
- *Opening Night* (1977): Gena Rowlands drinks her way to the curtain; Cassavetes never looks away.
- *La Vie en Rose* (2007): Marion Cotillard’s Piaf, the same wreckage, shot with far less caution.
- *Stan & Ollie* (2018): Another late British tour for fading stars, gentler and better written.
- *Meet Me in St. Louis* (1944): The Trolley Song where it belongs, with the young Garland singing it.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/judy