‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’ Reviews: Critics Praise Aaron Sorkin’s New Netflix Movie

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” movie reviews are in, and it appears most of the top critics are praising the Netflix film.

The Aaron Sorkin direct flick, which stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and several others, is based on the infamous 1969 trial.

At the time, the federal government charged seven defendants with conspiracy and other crimes that stemmed from protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

To date, the film has received a 93% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Even though some critics weren’t fans of the film, all appeared to agree that there was an important message within the plot that coincides with present-day issues.

Variety - Owen Gleiberman

“Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ is the rare drama about the 1960s that’s powerful and authentic and moving enough to feel as if it were taking place today.”

The Hollywood Reporter - David Rooney

“Sorkin has made a movie that’s gripping, illuminating and trenchant, as erudite as his best work and always grounded first and foremost in story and character.”

Entertainment Weekly - Leah Greenblatt

“[A] remarkably relevant story, smartly told, but with certain blind spots and pitfalls: broad strokes, rhetorical grandstanding, the tendency to overstuff an already load-bearing tale.”

Washington Post - Ann Hornaday

“‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ offers an absorbing primer in a chapter of American history that was both bizarre and ruefully meaningful.”

RogerEbert.com - Brian Tallerico

“There are such wonderful individual moments and beats in that just watching it as an acting exercise makes it worthwhile.”

USA Today - Brian Truitt

“The filmmaker crafts an entertaining, immersive, and ultimately optimistic spectacle that never forgets, especially at its ending, that humanity should always trump the system.”

Boston Globe - Ty Burr

‘“Trial’ is so inherently compelling - and so directly germane to an America where the government labels cities ‘anarchist jurisdictions’ and states are drawing up laws against free assembly - that it doesn’t need the frills.”

IndieWire - Eric Kohn

“A look back at rabble-rousers from another era won’t change the world, but ‘Chicago 7’ is a solid tribute to a few men who realized they could, even when the system they fought for came up short.”

New York Times - A.O. Scott

“It’s talky and clumsy, alternating between self-importance and clowning. But it’s also not a movie that can be easily shaken off. Partly this is an accident of timing.”