What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘The Breadwinner’?

William Bibbiani of The Wrap is among the top critics on RT who gives the film a “rotten” score, writing that “The Breadwinner has more stale corny bits than a Kellogg’s factory dumpster.”

Natalia Winkelman of Variety also gives The Breadwinner a “rotten” score. Winkelman writes in her RT review summary, “Select moments may land a laugh, but zoom out a little, and the real joke is that this movie was made in 2026.”

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter also slams the film, writing in his “rotten” RT review summary, “The Breadwinner is so lazy and laid-back that it practically recedes into itself. This is a film that makes television shows like Father Knows Best and My Three Sons seem edgy.”

The Breadwinner doesn’t find any mercy from AV Club’s Matt Schimkowitz, either. Schimkowitz writes in his “rotten” RT review summary, “Bargatze’s commitment to ‘clean’ comedy, which is to say, material that is inoffensive to white upper-class suburbanites, means defanging whatever bite Breadwinner might otherwise have.”

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times is among the top critics who gives The Breadwinner a “fresh” score on RT. Kenny writes in his RT review summary, “Bargatze proves himself a savvy writer and performer here; he doesn’t hog all the laugh lines for himself, but instead often plays straight man to his three daughters... It’s the girls who ultimately make this comedy sing.”

Alison Foreman of IndieWire also awards the the film a “fresh” score on RT, writing, “For the most part, Appel wisely avoids pushing Nate toward overly heightened emotional territory — instead, treating Bargatze’s deadpan confusion like its own immutable law of physics inside the silly world of The Breadwinner.”

The Breadwinner plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday.