Winter's Tale

PG-13

Released Feb 14, 2014

1 hr. 58 min.

Fantasy

Romance

List

13%

156 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

One night in early 20th-century New York, master thief Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) breaks into a Central Park mansion -- and quickly has his heart stolen by its occupant, Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). Unfortunately, their love is star-crossed; she is dying from consumption, and he is marked for death by his demonic former mentor, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). Peter battles the forces of time and darkness to save Beverly, even as Pearly does everything in his power to defeat Peter.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Mar 12

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Max

Apple TV

Watch Winter's Tale with a subscription on Max, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Critics Consensus

Winter's Tale tries to retain the grandiose sweep of its source novel, but fails to fill it in with characters worth rooting for or a sensible plot.

Read Critics Reviews

Alec B

It's the kind of of Hallmark Channel TV Movie schmaltzy sap we haven't seen on the big screen since the 90s and I can understand why. It is wall to wall clichés, and it would be funny if we weren't supposed to take this goofy story seriously.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/10/23

Full Review

Chad T

Certainly it's a fanciful morality play about life, love, destiny & humanity. Farrell's Peter Lake a n'er do well put overboard from a ship as his parents are turned away from America is the focus. Why because they knew he was a miracle child. He ends up a thief & in the hands of Crowe who isn't exactly humane or human for that matter. He is somewhat saved from this path by his growing discontent & a Chance meeting with Brown Findlay a young woman who's dying from consumption. Crowe's Soames still wrecks havoc on the two destined lovers, believing he's crushed the destiny maker. Alas, his action sets in motion Peter's destiny. Fantasy wrapped in a story of good & evil, with Lucifer looking on, Peter finally accomplishes what he was destined to do even if it was a long time coming. Connnely, Hurt and Eva Marie Saint round out a great cast.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/24/23

Full Review

steve d

Unpleasant melodrama the amounts to little.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Zdravka P

I watched the movie on TV few weeks ago and I loved it. I'm not the movie kind of person - too busy life schedule, etc., but I got splendid by the atmosphere it creates, by the message it brings and by the beauty of the story. I was really surprised to find out that Winter's tale wasn't well accepted by both critics and viewers. Yes, it might not be perfect in terms of directing and there are points when it takes more effort to understand what exactly happened, but still in my opinion the movie is totally underrated.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Tony D

This movie has gotten a bad rap by critics for whatever reason. I really enjoyed it and thought Colin Farrel was fantastic in it. Highly recommend it!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/18/22

Full Review

isla s

This is a seriously sentimental and cheesy film but its also quite amusing, even if it is in ways that perhaps the film makers hadn't originally intended it to be. For one thing, Russell Crowe's accent! well, thats something to behold, or to be heard I should, perhaps, say. It seems very over the top and its clearly intended to be regarded as a sort of a quirky fairy tale. Some aspects of the plot I liked more than others. If anything, it felt like Colin Farrell was perhaps slightly over emphasising his irish accent but then, I suppose (to be fair) its perhaps more likely that he subdues it when playing American characters, so maybe thats unfair. Its inevitable there are cliches here, with the whole plot concept being one of a young(ish) lady (a vulnerable one at that) falling for a young scalliwag. There are some scenes with relatively decent CGI too. Its mildly entertaining, a bit amusing and I suppose somewhat imaginative, although it did seem more like a longish TV show/TV film, compared to a big Hollywood film. The plot becomes fairly complicated after a while and I believe its based on a 700 page novel, so I did struggle to fully grasp every plot detail but I thought it was ok. I wouldn't particularly recommend it as such, no.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Akiva Goldsman

Director

Colin Farrell

Peter Lake

Jessica Brown Findlay

Beverly Penn

Russell Crowe

Pearly Soames

Jennifer Connelly

Virginia Gamely

William Hurt

Isaac Penn

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

48%

54%

Beautiful Creatures

46%

60%

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

25%

60%

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

49%

70%

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

49%

72%

Twilight

TRAILER

for Twilight

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Parental Guidance: Transformers: Age of Extinction and Winter’s Tale

RT Podcast: Ep. 024 – Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Leftovers

Parental Guidance: RoboCop, Endless Love and Winter’s Tale, Plus Ender’s Game and All Is Lost

View more photos

Donald Clarke

Irish Times

A fine book fights gallantly to escape from its straitjacket, but eventually lies down and allows itself to be trampled underfoot by bad ideas.

Rated: 2/5

Feb 28, 2014

Full Review

Jonathan Romney

Observer (UK)

Findlay narrates in huge chunks of religiose voice-over. "Nothing has been without purpose - nothing," she concludes. Well, perhaps not nothing.

Rated: 1/5

Feb 23, 2014

Full Review

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

metro.co.uk

The introductory voice-over... generously still gives you time to dash back to the foyer and demand your money back to watch something less stomach-churning - like escalators going up and down.

Rated: 1/5

Feb 21, 2014

Full Review

Therese Lacson

Nerdophiles

[Unfortunately,] Winter's Tale falls very flat, and unless you are watching it for the actors, don't pay money for this movie.

Rated: 1/5

Oct 9, 2021

Full Review

Nathalia Aryani

The MovieMaven

The film would have been much better off sticking with an eternal love story or having the protagonist fulfill his future destiny that is connected to his past. Winter's Talefeels distant and disconnected. It should have been magical.

May 30, 2021

Full Review

Richard Crouse

Richard Crouse

A frustrating movie. It overly complicates a boy-from-the-wrong- side-of-the-tracks-meets-rich-girl story with a bunch of hocus pocus that wastes some good work from Farrell, Findlay and Russell Crowe.

Rated: 1.5/5

Feb 1, 2021

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

One night in early 20th-century New York, master thief Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) breaks into a Central Park mansion -- and quickly has his heart stolen by its occupant, Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). Unfortunately, their love is star-crossed; she is dying from consumption, and he is marked for death by his demonic former mentor, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). Peter battles the forces of time and darkness to save Beverly, even as Pearly does everything in his power to defeat Peter.

Director: Akiva Goldsman
Executive Producer: James Packer, Steven Mnuchin, Kerry Foster, Bruce Berman
Screenwriter: Akiva Goldsman
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Weed Road Pictures, Marc Platt Productions
Rating: PG-13 (Violence|Some Sensuality)
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 14, 2014, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 11, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $12.6M
Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby Digital

Most Popular at Home Now