All stories by Peter Debruge on BroadwayStars

Saturday, February 14, 2026

'Mouse' Review: A Touching Bond Forms Between a North Little Rock Teen and Her Late Friend's Mom by Peter Debruge

A mousy teenager with curly hair and a face full of acne, Minnie is the farthest thing from cool " even if the actress who plays her, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, has charisma to spare. Minnie…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:49AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 9, 2026

'Wuthering Heights' Review: Intense as Her Two Leads' Chemistry May Be, Emerald Fennell Knows to Leave Them Wanting Moor by Peter Debruge

Research the ratings history of "Wuthering Heights" via the Motion Picture Academy, and you'll see a progression in how Emily Brontë's novel has been treated on-screen, evolving from tame…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 1, 2026

'Bedford Park' Review: Two Children of Korean Immigrants Make an Unlikely Connection in Touching but Slightly Contrived Drama by Peter Debruge

As the "Rocky" score soars from the car stereo, Eli (Son Sukku) and Audrey (Moon Choi) are having two completely different experiences while in the same vehicle. He's elated, moving his hand…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:35PM[SHARE]
Saturday, January 31, 2026

'If I Go Will They Miss Me' Review: Talent-to-Watch Walter Thompson-Hernández Weaves a Lyrical Portrait of a Boy on the Brink of Flight by Peter Debruge

Even the most inspirational films about growing up in the inner-city have a tendency to look down on their subjects, portraying them as characters to be rescued or redeemed. But in Walter Th…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:05AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 29, 2026

'Once Upon a Time in Harlem' Review: Cultural Time-Capsule Doc Invites Us to a Once-in-a-Lifetime Party by Peter Debruge

In the documentary "Once Upon a Time in Harlem," the legendary photographer James Van Der Zee eyes the grand piano sitting in the living room of Duke Ellington's townhouse. We hear a voice n…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, January 26, 2026

'Chasing Summer' Review: Iliza Shlesinger Captures Both the Pitfalls and Temptations in an Overachiever's Humiliating Return Home by Peter Debruge

Texas is a big place that can feel so small sometimes. Just ask comedian Iliza Shlesinger, who clearly gets it. Born in New York, but raised in the suburbs of Dallas Fort Worth, she made her…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 25, 2026

'Wicker' Review: Olivia Colman Orders a Man Made of Wood in a Bawdy Fable Perfectly Suited for Anyone Tempted to Marry Their AI Chatbot by Peter Debruge

In Ursula Wills-Jones' 2008 short story "The Wicker Husband" (not to be confused with the "The Wicker Man"), an unpleasant fisherwoman in an unenlightened medieval town asks the local basket…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:15PM[SHARE]
Friday, January 23, 2026

'The Oldest Person in the World' Review: Sam Green Shares a Life-Changing Decade of Thinking About Mortality in Myriad Ways by Peter Debruge

If life is a contest, the way the folks at Guinness World Records seem to treat it, how exactly does one win? Is it by amassing the most assets? The most wisdom? Some might argue that succes…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 10, 2025

The Best Movies of 2025 by Peter Debruge

Movies are the great escape. "Optimistic endings, passionate romances," sings the incarcerated dreamer of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," who looks to old Hollywood movies as an oasis of beauty …

SOURCE: Variety at 12:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 5, 2025

'The Stories' Review: An Improbable Connection Between Two People From Different Worlds Reveals Egypt's Recent History by Peter Debruge

Ahmed (Amir El-Masry) belongs to an Egyptian family accustomed to defeat. The soccer team they root for can't win a single match, no matter how they follow their household-specific superstit…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:39PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 4, 2025

'A Sad and Beautiful World' Review: Evocative Romance Spans Three Decades Against the Backdrop of a Country in Constant Crisis by Peter Debruge

Born on the same day in the same Beirut hospital just a minute apart, while war raged outside, the lovers in "A Sad and Beautiful World" were seemingly destined to fall for each other, and t…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 19, 2025

'Paranormal Activity' Review: Only Nominally Related to the Blumhouse Horror Franchise, Haunted-House Show Ditches Hidden Cameras for Live Scares by Peter Debruge

After seven movies, the "Paranormal Activity" franchise doesn't frighten audiences the way it once did " that is, through the power of suggestion, using home security cameras, smartphones an…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:38PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 18, 2025

'Wicked: For Good' Review: Between Broom Flights and Witch Fights, It's Ariana Grande's Time to Shine in Spectacular Return to Oz by Peter Debruge

Oz has never felt more great and powerful than it does in "Wicked: For Good." Where the first entry in director Jon M. Chu's exuberant two-parter succeeded in wowing audiences last fall, its…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 16, 2025

'Working Girl' Review: La Jolla Playhouse Invests in '80s Nostalgia, Launching Mike Nichols Adaptation With Retro-Sounding Cyndi Lauper Songs by Peter Debruge

In "Working Girl," an upwardly mobile Melanie Griffith embodied Tess McGill, a secretary from Staten Island with big hair and even bigger dreams. She thought her new boss (played by Sigourne…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:52PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 28, 2025

'Hedda' Review: Tessa Thompson Sinks Her Talons Into a Rich Stage Role Boldly Reinvented for the Big Screen by Peter Debruge

On the chain around Hedda Gabler's neck hangs a key to her father's gun case. One needn't be a genius to deduce that the key will be used, and eventually the gun as well, in writer-director …

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 14, 2025

'The Twits' Review: Unruly Roald Dahl Adaptation Is Tastier Than a Bowl of Worms, If You Like That Sort of Thing by Peter Debruge

In the twisted children's novel "The Twits," Road Dahl describes the repulsive state of Mr. Twit's facial hair with relish, lingering on details like the "maggoty green cheese" and "slimy ta…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 29, 2025

'Momo' Review: Martin Freeman Controls Time in Sentimental Fantasy Boasting Not-So-Distant Futuristic Threats by Peter Debruge

Given the pressures of modern existence, it's clear why an adaptation of Michael Ende's 1973 novel "Momo" would appear utterly relevant in 2025. More than ever, the hours in the day seem ins…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 22, 2025

'Kokuho' Review: A Hit in Its Home Country, Three-Hour Japanese Epic Illuminates the Highs and Lows of Kabuki Theater by Peter Debruge

A vivid portrait of a legendary kabuki actor over the course of his career, "Kokuho" joins a rich tradition of films that depict the personal cost of making art. Too often, such stories pres…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:54PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 10, 2025

'Spinal Tap II: The End Continues' Review: The Ultimate Spoof Band Gets a Cheeky Send-Off, With a Little Help From Their Friends by Peter Debruge

With Spinal Tap, the joke never gets old, even if the hilarious-as-ever heavy metal trio is now bordering on geriatric. Well into their 70s, hall-of-fame improv talents Michael McKean and Ch…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:15PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 8, 2025

'The Christophers' Review: Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel Are Brilliantly Matched in Steven Soderbergh's Sly Look at Artistic Legacy by Peter Debruge

Some things you simply can't fake. Take talent: There's no room for anything shy of genius in "The Christophers," a crackling original drama about artistic legacy in all its facets, directed…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:17AM[SHARE]

'Normal' Review: Ben Wheatley Is Back in 'Free Fire' Form, Putting Bob Odenkirk at the Center of a Small-Town Standoff by Peter Debruge

Normal is the name of a Minnesota town where things are anything but. Just 1,890 people live in the tiny Midwestern burg, but there must be at least that many guns to go around. The guy who …

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 7, 2025

'I Swear' Review: Down-to-Earth Tourette Syndrome Drama Is a Fine Showcase for 'Rings of Power' Star Robert Aramayo by Peter Debruge

Based on the real life of Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson, who takes an exec credit here, "I Swear" is a biopic about a man who came of age in 1980s Scotland at a time when Touret…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 6, 2025

'Rental Family' Review: Hiring Actors to Play Relatives Would Be Weird Enough Without Brendan Fraser Being One of the Choices by Peter Debruge

Six years ago, the inimitable Werner Herzog made "Family Romance, LLC," an odd pseudo-documentary about a Japanese service that specialized in hiring actors to play a loved one, colleague or…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 5, 2025

'Maddie's Secret' Review: John Early Tests the Limits of Good Taste as a Food Influencer With an Eating Disorder by Peter Debruge

The secret of "Maddie's Secret" " or maybe it's the central joke " is that the movie's creator and star, comedian John Early, takes the whole thing seriously. A uniquely tacky critique of in…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:15AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 1, 2025

'H Is for Hawk' Review: Claire Foy Is Enraptured With Raptors in an Unconventional Yet Moving Grief Drama by Peter Debruge

"Looking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often, and you don't get to say when or how," writes Helen Macdonald in "H Is for Hawk," a book I picked up by accident (al…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:00PM[SHARE]
Sunday, August 31, 2025

'Preparation for the Next Life' Review: A Bittersweet Immigrant Love Story Thrives on Two Terrific Performances by Peter Debruge

The spark between two soon-to-be lovers ignites inside a Latin nightclub in New York City, as the pair dance with clumsy playfulness to the Spanish romantic ballad "Un Velero Llamado Liberta…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:11AM[SHARE]
Saturday, August 30, 2025

'Tuner' Review: Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall Fix Pianos in an Offbeat Indie That's Far Better Than It Must Sound by Peter Debruge

Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall make quite the pair in "Tuner." Hoffman's character, veteran piano technician Harry Horowitz, is losing his hearing, while his people-shy apprentice (played by…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:30PM[SHARE]

'Hamlet' Review: Riz Ahmed Can't Save a London-Set Take on Shakespeare's Tragedy With No Reason to Be by Peter Debruge

William Shakespeare left no instructions as to the right way future dramatists should tell "Hamlet." We have only the text, which reveals fresh insights each time someone new recites it. Wit…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:37PM[SHARE]

'Frankenstein' Review: Guillermo del Toro's Dream Project Has Been Gestating So Long, the Master's Creation Arrives Overstuffed and Unwieldy by Peter Debruge

More than once, incensed characters accuse the mad doctor of being the true "monster" in Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein" " not to be confused with Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," even tho…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:45PM[SHARE]

'Hamnet' Review: Jessie Buckley Delivers a Devastating Performance in Chloé Zhao's Radically Feminine Take on Shakespeare's Family Life by Peter Debruge

By some perverse coincidence, this year at the Telluride Film Festival, there were three movies about William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," but it's the one spelled with the "N" that confronts the…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:09AM[SHARE]
Friday, August 29, 2025

'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' Review: Who Wants to See a Downbeat Rock Star? Jeremy Allen White Navigates the Boss's Spiritual Crisis by Peter Debruge

In an industry where even "Weird Al" Yankovic has a movie about his life story, it's about time the Boss got his due. But "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere" isn't just another assembly-l…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off