Clint may be playing the hits in Cry Macho, but boy, are the notes lovelier than ever.

A review for /reviews/publisher:

Clunky and cranky in the most charming of ways, the film always moves in sync with its 91-year-old star, lingering on moments of solitude for long periods while brushing past more traditional plot points with ease.

A review by Glenn Heath Jr. for /reviews/publisher:

These small events transpire in beautifully shot, unhurried scenes. This is Eastwood’s version of pastoral. Mike pieces his ruined life back together in a sense. He finds pleasure in being of service to a community. The professed agnostic takes Marta’s hand when she prays to begin a meal, and likes it. The simple sincerity about what’s worthwhile in life is the movie’s reason for being. Nothing more and nothing less.

A review by Glenn Kenny for /reviews/publisher:

Consequence

One of Eastwood's most pleasing character studies since Million Dollar Baby.

A review by Clint Worthington for Consequence on 2021-09-15

Wall Street Journal

It’s a slow-release dose of sincere feelings.

A review by Joe Morgenstern for Wall Street Journal on 2021-09-17

The New York Times

This one is something different — a deep cut for the die-hards, a hangout movie with nothing much to prove and just enough to say, with a pleasing score (by Mark Mancina) and some lovely desert scenery (shot by Ben Davis). If the old man’s driving, my advice is to get in and enjoy the ride.

A review by A.O. Scott for The New York Times on 2021-09-16

The latest of Eastwood’s many potential swan songs, this sketch of a movie is transparent enough to focus all of your attention on the shadow imagery behind it. On the brimmed silhouette that its director and star cuts in a door frame, on the six pounds of gravel that it sounds like he gargled before every take, and on the way that he plays Mike as a man who would give anything for a place to hang his hat if only he could bring himself to take it off his head. Better late than never.

A review by David Ehrlich for /reviews/publisher:

Slant Magazine

The film achieves the nourishing simplicity of a fable, and its devotion to the quotidian elements of mythical small-town western life is nearly religious.

A review by Chuck Bowen for Slant Magazine on 2021-09-21

New York Post

Some of the acting feels cardboard; the plot points are never shocking. Eastwood’s love interest is about four decades his junior. And yet, the director casts a Zen cowboy spell that makes it all sort of irresistible.

A review by Sara Stewart for New York Post on 2021-09-17

Time

The story is almost embarrassingly simple. But the picture slides by pleasantly enough like a stream in a Budd Boetticher movie, a calm place to take off your boots and set a spell as you reflect on the true meaning of manhood, the necessity of overcoming hidden heartache and the pleasures of finally, in your sunset years, succumbing to the love of a good woman.

A review by Stephanie Zacharek for Time on 2021-09-17

The New Yorker

Cry Macho doesn’t resound with the hectic astonishment of The 15:17 to Paris or the tragic imagination of Sully, but it delivers whispers of both. Its breezy, easygoing fable of late-life adventure and connection is also a story of an over-the-hill athlete who may meet his match on any street corner.

A review by Richard Brody for The New Yorker on 2021-09-16

New York Magazine (Vulture)

Now, approaching twilight, Eastwood has stripped everything down to its essentials. The picture doesn’t always work, but it works when it has to. It’s a fragile enterprise — lovely to bask in, but liable to fall apart if you stare too hard.

A review by Bilge Ebiri for New York Magazine (Vulture) on 2021-09-15

The Atlantic

Cry Macho is almost like a Western paced at half speed, told with the deliberateness demanded by a 91-year-old movie star. That just helps underline its eulogistic narrative, one in which Mike is already a man out of time, and the more energetic Rafael tries to encourage him to enjoy the last act of his life rather than shuffle through it.

A review by David Sims for The Atlantic on 2021-09-15

Arizona Republic

There is a craggy kind of elegance to Cry Macho. You know what you’re getting for the most part. This does not include a lot of surprises. It does include comfort in the familiar. Eastwood has earned that, too.

A review by Bill Goodykoontz for Arizona Republic on 2021-09-15

Original-Cin

What makes Cry Macho fascinating to watch, even in an uncomfortable high-wire act way, is Eastwood — stoop-shouldered, sometimes pausing in his dialogue, but determinedly taking on a character he probably should have taken on back in 1988 when he was first approached about doing the part.

A review by Liam Lacey for Original-Cin on 2021-09-16

TheWrap

A road movie that, considering who made it, starts pretty far down that road, Cry Macho is familiar and loose, sometimes rattly, occasionally wince-inducing, and in a few moments genuine in ways no one else seems to know how to do anymore.

A review by Robert Abele for TheWrap on 2021-09-15

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

On the one hand, you gotta give it to the man. He’s got grit. But surely, there are other cowboys whose stories are just as worth telling.

A review by Aparita Bhandari for The Globe and Mail (Toronto) on 2021-09-17

Boston Globe

Old Clint is still Clint, but he definitely looks a little stooped and more than a little frail. There’s an unexpected benefit to that frailty, and it makes this leisurely, not especially plausible film worth watching.

A review by Mark Feeney for Boston Globe on 2021-09-16

Chicago Tribune

Cry Macho may be fond and foolish in equal measure, but it has a few grace notes to remember, in addition to a fine gallery of images of Eastwood in silhouette, at dusk, against a big sky, alone with his thoughts.

A review by Michael Phillips for Chicago Tribune on 2021-09-15

Variety

It’s friendly and diverting and formulaic, in an inoffensive and good-natured way, and it’s a totally minor affair.

A review by Owen Gleiberman for Variety on 2021-09-15

Rolling Stone

In a moral universe so keenly prescribed as this, the goodness we see in Cry Macho — goodness that seems to come with age or, as in the case of Marta and Mike both, after great sacrifice — resounds even as, scene to scene, the movie feels shaky.

A review by K. Austin Collins for Rolling Stone on 2021-09-20

ABC News

This meandering neo-western is far from classic Eastwood. But Eastwood, at 91, is still classic in every sense of the word.

A review by Peter Travers for ABC News on 2021-09-17

Slashfilm

It's now hard to imagine that "Unforgiven" felt very much like Eastwood closing the book on his Western era. Cry Macho is more of a slow-paced postscript to that book, but a surprisingly well-worn and welcome postscript nonetheless.

A review by Josh Spiegel for Slashfilm on 2021-09-17

Screen Daily

From the film’s first moments, the audience can guess exactly how the story will pan out, and the pleasure is watching Eastwood gracefully negotiate every well-worn twist and turn.

A review by Tim Grierson for Screen Daily on 2021-09-15

The A.V. Club

The fact is that, as a movie, Cry Macho is slow and sometimes dull. But as a statement by Hollywood’s oldest leading man and working director, it offers its share of gleaming low-key insights.

A review by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky for The A.V. Club on 2021-09-15

Austin Chronicle

Regardless of whether Cry Macho merits a rating of good, bad, or ugly, Eastwood’s mere presence, despite any perceived physical frailties, can’t help but dwarf this slenderest of movies.

A review by Steve Davis for Austin Chronicle on 2021-09-27

IGN

Cry Macho has spare moments of charm and tranquility, but mostly it's a dry and unfinished story that fails to hit even the most basic of Story 101 beats.

A review by Matt Fowler for IGN on 2021-09-17

Observer

So much of Eastwood’s career over the last two decades has proven that his age and experience has incredible cinematic value when he holds himself to the high standards he set for himself years ago. When he doesn’t, which is sadly the case with Cry Macho, the uninspired results leave you with wistful memories of what once was.

A review by Oliver Jones for Observer on 2021-09-15

Chicago Sun-Times

Alas, the sweet-natured and occasionally moving but surprisingly stiff and slight Cry Macho is most likely destined to be remembered as one of Eastwood’s lesser works.

A review by Richard Roeper for Chicago Sun-Times on 2021-09-15

Los Angeles Times

The simplicity of the story Eastwood is telling would seem to suit his unvarnished, unfussy style, though frankly, a bit more fuss — a few more takes to smooth out a wobbly performance, an extra light bulb or two in the interior shots — wouldn’t have gone awry. But “Cry Macho,” with its attractive but not indulgent landscapes (shot in New Mexico) backed by a spare, twangy Mark Mancina score, takes pains to reject anything that might smack of falsity or pretense.

A review by Justin Chang for Los Angeles Times on 2021-09-15

Washington Post

Maybe it’s true that it’s never too late to find a new home. But in some ways, it feels like “Cry Macho” has missed the bus. Perhaps Eastwood should have kept his hand on the reins of this pet project while letting someone else sit in the saddle.

A review by Michael O'Sullivan for Washington Post on 2021-09-15

Paste Magazine

Eastwood’s been riding off into the sunset for decades now, and Cry Macho’s creaky, lackadaisical hat-wave is a feature-length parody of a golden oldie.

A review by Jacob Oller for Paste Magazine on 2021-09-15

Film Threat

Eastwood is a formidable filmmaker, a force of nature, whose films like Mystic River will forever remain in the pantheon of Great Cinema. Alas, Cry Macho may likewise be forever regarded as a perplexing glimpse at a different side of the man, one who's created this macho persona and who now attempts to absolve himself, to only – pardon my crude use of the idiom – dig his own grave.

A review by Alex Saveliev for Film Threat on 2021-09-20

Cry Macho is dogged by a slack pace and an inertness that overwhelms, scene after scene of nothing, not a funny line or a moving moment or an unresolved conflict, just nothing.

A review by Benjamin Lee for /reviews/publisher:

A screen elegy is supposed to make you sad and give the viewer an appreciation for all this character and the actor playing him was, and a little of what remains. Cry Macho just generates pity.

A review by Roger Moore for /reviews/publisher:

CNN

An understated, uneventful slog of a movie that feels like a misguided merger of "Gran Torino" and "Bronco Billy."

A review by Brian Lowry for CNN on 2021-09-16

The Hollywood Reporter

This is a story so crusty and antiquated in its conveniently resolved conflicts, contrivances and drippy sentimentality that it should have been left on the shelf.

A review by David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter on 2021-09-15

The Associated Press

The film is apparently supposed to be a meditation on masculinity, with Eastwood’s one-time rodeo star Mike Milo taming and rebuilding his young rebellious charge into an honorable young man. Instead, it’s a meditation on clumsy and predictable filmmaking.

A review by Mark Kennedy for The Associated Press on 2021-09-15

San Francisco Chronicle

But Eastwood is undercut by the unbearably weak screenplay by Nick Schenk, who adapts a 1975 novel by N. Richard Nash. Schenk has turned in good work for Eastwood before, including “Gran Torino” and “The Mule,” but here his strategy seems to be having his characters explain everything that they’re doing and feeling, much of which should be delivered visually. Action is character, after all.

A review by G. Allen Johnson for San Francisco Chronicle on 2021-09-15