'The Bride!' First Reviews Are In: Critics Are Divided on Maggie Gyllenhaal Frankenstein Movie

The Bride! is hitting theaters Friday (March 6), and the first reviews are in!

Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her directorial debut with the feature, starring Jessie Buckley, whom she worked with on The Lost Daughter.

Jessie is starring as the Bride of Frankenstein’s monster in the new take on the classic story.

Here’s a synopsis: “A lonely Frankenstein (Christian Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!”

Also starring in the movie are Penelope Cruz, as well as Maggie‘s husband Peter Sarsgaard and brother Jake Gyllenhaal.

But what are the critics saying so far?

Keep reading to see the reactions…

The Bride! currently has a 58% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The New York Post gave it a 0 out of 4, writing: “One of the absolute worst movies I have had the displeasure of watching in this job.”

The Guardian gave it 4 out of 5, writing: “Without Buckley, this would have been lacking; with her, it’s a very bizarre and enjoyable spectacle of married bliss.”

TheWrap writes: “The good news, for a lot of people, is that Gyllenhaal just made your new favorite movie. The bad news is … hang on, let me see if I can find any … no, I got nothing. There is no bad news.”

The Times says: “It’s a howling misfire for the actress turned director Maggie Gyllenhaal who has, in this latest flashy Frankenstein reboot, abandoned all the artistic integrity she displayed in her stunning debut, The Lost Daughter.”

Variety says: “It’s like Joker 2 starring a grunge version of the Munsters, with dollops of Sid and Nancy and Natural Born Killers. Except that the movie doesn’t move.”

The Daily Beast says: “A Frankenstein-ian cine-monster that both reinvents and pays homage with all the clumsiness and unsightliness of its fabled creature.”

BBC says: “At times it’s as if the film itself was stitched together from the parts of other movies, but collecting all those bits and pieces is a sign of Gyllenhaal‘s huge scope and ambition.”

The San Francisco Chronicle gave it 1 out of 4, and says: “The director is clearly having fun. But even if the intention was parody, it comes at the expense of its thematic purpose.”

Slashfilm gave it 8 out of 10, writing: “Whatever its flaws, the punk rock energy of The Bride! is hard to resist.”

Slant gave it 3 out of 4, writing: “Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride is a shotgun blast of a movie with no fealty to the conventions of modern gothic horror.”

Maggie Gyllenhaal opened up about the challenges she faced making The Bride! for Warner Bros.