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With: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, Jacobi Jupe, David Wilmot, Olivia Lynes
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Written by: Chloé Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell, based on a novel by Maggie O'Farrell
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Directed by: Chloé Zhao
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic content, some strong sexuality, and partial nudity
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Running Time: 126
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Date: 11/26/2025
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Not to Be
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Based on a popular novel by Maggie O'Farrell, Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao's Hamnet is a terrible disappointment, a badly overcooked example of hardship porn. Adapted by O'Farrell and Zhao, the movie is a never-ending parade of babies being born, babies dying, pestilence, nightgowns that look like burlap sacks, tortured writing sessions, muddy streets, tortured acting sessions, labored breathing, and indignant outrage, all against a relentlessly gray background. Jessie Buckley plays Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal). He writes Hamlet after an unspeakable tragedy, to help him cope. The movie's only moment of greatness comes at the end when Agnes watches the play and slowly releases what the words really mean. Her performance in that scene is entrancing, but it's a slog before we get there.
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