The New York Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...... [a] respectable, respectful and generally inert revival... Mr. Franco, Mr. O'Dowd and their director, Anna D. Shapiro, face the daunting task of turning folk heroes as fixed as the heads on Mount Rushmore back into pulsing flesh. This shouldn't be impossible... Yet somehow Ms. Shapiro's handsome, meticulously designed production (featuring impressive Walker Evans-evoking sets by Todd Rosenthal) feels about as fluid as a diorama in a history museum. And its two undeniably talented leading men... generate little discernible chemistry..."
NY Daily News - Highly Recommended
"...[Franco] and Chris O'Dowd do first-rate work in this stirring revival... Steinbeck's story isn't exactly subtle. Director Anna D. Shapiro packs shading and meaning into an evocative production... Shapiro's ace cast grips, too, but not terrifyingly. Gossip Girl ¯ alum and stage newcomer Meester brings out the yearning and sadness of the unnamed wife. Tony winner Norton adds dignity and gravity as sad ol' Candy... Ron Cephas Jones and Jim Parrack impress respectively..."
Associated Press - Recommended
"...Chris O'Dowd turns in a very impressive performance as the mentally challenged Lennie in a fine revival of "Of Mice and Men." Franco? He's pretty good in his Broadway debut as George, but O'Dowd, in a tricky role, steals the show... smartly directed by Anna D. Shapiro, with evocative sets by Todd Rosenthal and rich lighting from Japhy Weideman... [Leighton Meester's] line reading is flat, her comfort in the character nonexistent. She is never convincing... Meester may be as pretty as Franco, but she's way out of her depth here."
Hollywood Reporter - Highly Recommended
"......[a]stirring Broadway remount... Shapiro brings a probing but delicate touch, and a sensitivity that extends to all the key characters... If [Franco's] not quite a natural onstage... he brings warmth and understated manliness to George in a performance that grows more assured as the play progresses. Most crucially, Franco has beautiful chemistry with O'Dowd... O'Dowd is tremendous in a part that could easily stray into mawkish territory... It's a lovely performance... this revival delivers the theatrical equivalent of sitting down with a dog-eared copy of a favorite novel."
Vulture - Highly Recommended
"...Lennie is the showier role, and O'Dowd, in his Broadway debut, does not waste its opportunities. (Who knew from his appearances on Girls and in Bridesmaids he could be so masterful?)... Franco shouts and scowls well, but there's a disconnection... Later though... Franco not only aligns himself with the part but justifies his star casting... Shapiro beautifully shapes and calibrates the tone... the ensemble is drawn with vivid highlights and deep shadows... Of Mice and Men has become a classic because... it's a personal tragedy and, just behind that, a social tragedy."
NY1 - Highly Recommended
"......an emotionally intense and rewarding experience. Everything about this staging does great justice to the drama. From the design efforts to the meticulous casting, it's rendered in a raw naturalism that grips your attention. The actors are excellent... most of the play's success rides on its two leads, and here, James Franco and Chris O'Dowd, in their Broadway debuts, are outstanding. Franco uncovers dimensions in George we didn't know existed. And O'Dowd will break your heart... No matter how well you know the work, I'm certain this fine company will have you seeing it in a whole new, deeply profound light."
Variety - Highly Recommended
"...The mood of that period is gorgeously but disturbingly rendered by the brilliant creative team assembled by Shapiro... the depth and understanding [O'Dowd] brings to the role render Lennie, quite simply, heartbreaking. The multitalented and ever-so-busy Franco gives a performance that's equally honest and beautifully crafted... There's no way to overpraise the nine men and one woman (Leighton Meester, holding her own nicely, thank you, as the femme fatale) in this ensemble"
USA Today - Highly Recommended
"...It's hard to think of a character in American fiction more heartbreaking than Lennie... [O'Dowd's is] a vivid, sensitive performance of the piece with director Anna D. Shapiro's staging... She's aided by an excellent cast... Meester brings flickers of softness and even warmth to the role. Stage vets Jim Norton and Ron Cephas Jones are predictably superb... It's a credit to Shapiro and her company that, in this revival of Mice, hope comes through as powerfully as its ultimate futility."
New York Post - Recommended
"......Franco is all surface, never giving us any insight into what drives him he's a very handsome blank. O'Dowd, on the other hand, disappears into Lennie... The scenes between the two men are key to the show, but they're off-balance here... Shapiro and her August: Osage County ¯ scenic designer, Todd Rosenthal, make the setting feel very real this is a visually rewarding show..."
Entertainment Weekly - Recommended
"......Franco shows a relaxed stage presence and real charisma, though his occasional explosions of anger or frustration seem to rely more on turning up the volume dial rather than digging for any deeper nuance... The real surprise in Anna D. Shapiro's finely staged production is Chris O'Dowd... [who] brings a studied and skillful physicality to Lennie... [a] riveting performance... Alas, Gossip Girl alum Leighton Meester, in her stage debut, leaves a rather wan impression... Rest assured, [the ending] still packs a wallop."
Bergen Record - Somewhat Recommended
"...The revival of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" looks like it's been through a Hollywood clean-and-press machine... Lennie is portrayed by Chris O'Dowd [with a] static interpretation of a mentally challenged man... And then there's Leighton Meester of "Gossip Girl... she does a decent job... The story is told dutifully, as befits a classic, but with very little dramatic power. It's thin and antiseptic... Franco is not terrible... But his George reveals no shadings of feeling, or internal life. It's a performance that just evaporates... [it's a] very long evening."
Newsday - Recommended
"...Chris O'Dowd, known more for films like "Bridesmaids" and "Friends With Kids," turns in a very impressive performance as the mentally challenged Lennie in a fine revival of "Of Mice and Men." Franco? He's pretty good in his Broadway debut as George, but O'Dowd, in a tricky role, steals the show ¦ smartly directed by Anna D. Shapiro, with evocative sets by Todd Rosenthal and rich lighting from Japhy Weideman ¦ O'Dowd beautifully conveys Lennie's innocence, his tics and his toddler-like frustrations. Franco is more standoffish, creating a George who apparently longs to be alone, tries to be decent and squints a lot ¦ Leighton Meester, of "Gossip Girl" fame, has a less good time of it, making an inauspicious Broadway debut as Curley's wife. Her line reading is flat, her comfort in the character nonexistent ¦ she's way out of her depth here ¦ The final scene is one of the most famous in literature and Franco and O'Dowd do it justice."
amNY - Highly Recommended
"......the Broadway revival of "Of Mice and Men" couldn't get much better... [it's] genuinely gripping, gritty and emotionally shattering. O'Dowd makes a convincing, full-bodied transformation... Franco acquits himself very well as George... Meester, best remembered as Blair on the television series "Gossip Girl," is quite effective as Curly's Wife..."
NorthJersey - Somewhat Recommended
"...The revival of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" looks like it's been through a Hollywood clean-and-press machine... Lennie is portrayed by Chris O'Dowd [with a] static interpretation of a mentally challenged man... And then there's Leighton Meester of "Gossip Girl... she does a decent job... The story is told dutifully, as befits a classic, but with very little dramatic power. It's thin and antiseptic... Franco is not terrible... But his George reveals no shadings of feeling, or internal life. It's a performance that just evaporates... [it's a] very long evening."
Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"......straight-up but resonant Broadway revival ¦ the valley on the stage of the aptly named Longacre Theatre is filled with small but beautifully crafted, and deftly cast, performances ¦ Chris O'Dowd['s] Lennie represents a genuinely lovely piece of acting ¦ Franco, a movie star who does not have much stage experience, certainly does not embarrass himself ¦ [but] the character remained elusive ¦ while the famous scene plays out here without evident false notes, it just does not deliver the fullness of the theatrical moment ¦ Leighton Meester does not convey enough sexual curiosity ¦ But O'Dowd makes it work nonetheless, aided by a plethora of fine actors who all seem to know what it's like to be in a job that could be taken away at any moment."
NBC New York - Highly Recommended
"...Celebrated director Anna D. Shapiro pulls no punches in her savage take on Of Mice and Men"... It certainly helps that she has two gifted performers as her leading men, James Franco and Chris O'Dowd, both making memorable debuts... O'Dowd gives an endearing interpretation of a mentally addled man... [Franco] gives such an understated and natural performance."
Time Out New York - Recommended
"...Franco gives an easy, well-shaded performance, but it's O'Dowd who stuns with a harrowingly real Lennie. The role of a mentally disabled character can be either technically overdone or a wallow in bathos, but O'Dowd is superb ¦ The film actors are buoyed by a sterling supporting cast including Jim Parrack as good-hearted cowboy Slim, Jim Norton as old-timer Candy and the incomparable Ron Cephas Jones as lonely Crooks all corralled by gimlet-eyed director Anna D. Shapiro. They work hard, and they pull together."
The Wrap - Recommended
"...There's not much poetry in John Steinbeck's writing here... It's effective theater in the same melodramatic way that The Heiress ¯ can be effective theater, if presented well. Director Anna D. Shapiro presents Of Mice and Men ¯ very effectively, and has assembled an excellent cast with standout performances from not only Franco and O'Dowd but Jim Norton and Ron Cephas Jones... Only Leighton Meester as the distraught wife, who just wants somebody to talk to, ¯ overstates her predicament."
Financial Times - Somewhat Recommended
"......a surprisingly unengaging revival... Franco looks apt enough... Yet the big moments in this revival... don't quite combust. The let-down is not the fault of the director, Anna D Shapiro, who has staged the proceedings with her customary professionalism and feel for performers. Nor is the physical production... anything less than impressive. Conveying the intimacy of the men's bonds is what eludes these talented professionals... On the stage, Of Mice and Men gives off a slightly dated feel... the story's power here feels diminished."
Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended
"... ¦ [a] gleaming yet hollow production ¦ [Franco's] acting unspontaneous, utterly devoid of reflexes and lacking the gremlin smirk of his best film work happens strictly from the neck up ¦ When Franco is overcome with strong emotion at a climactic juncture in the play, he does what any actor more comfortable with clichĆ© than with actual feeling does: he retches... This Broadway ensemble ¦ is scattershot, to put it mildly... "Of Mice and Men" creaks with melodrama. The play's themes still sting, but the style is retrograde. Franco's distracted, anachronistic presence awkwardly magnifies the conventional nature of the drama. O'Dowd, making a worthier Broadway debut, submits himself more wholly to the task at hand ¦ This revival of "Of Mice and Men," I'm sorry to say, is just another quizzical episode of "The James Franco Show," that pop culture reality series growing vainer by the minute."
New Jersey Newsroom - Highly Recommended
"......[a] sterling Broadway revival... The situations and words remain authentically, richly American. Shapiro's well-spoken production rewardingly brings out the play's lyrical side. Shapiro's 10-member ensemble provides solid, natural, yet mostly understated performances... Although Franco's honest portrayal anchors the two-act production, it is the endearing O'Dowd who will likely nab award nominations... The story's sharp contrasts of brutality and compassion, harshness and simple beauty, are artfully rendered in this thoughtful rendition of Steinbeck's poignant drama."
Talkin Broadway - Highly Recommended
"...[Of Mice and Men] could scarcely be better presented under present-day circumstances... Shapiro... is precisely in tune with Steinbeck... Better still are the performers... and there's not a weak link to be found... Particularly brilliant are James Franco and Chris O'Dowd as George and Lennie. Franco effortlessly embodies George's self-destructive masculinity... O'Dowd does beautiful work as the simple-minded Lennie, never pushing too hard... Their chemistry together is redolent of America's at its best: a union of opposing forces..."
Cititour.com - Recommended
"...Movie star casting proves to be a double-edged sword ¦ Unfortunately, Shapiro and Steinbeck are only fully served by O'Dowd, who makes a galvanizing Broadway debut as Lennie ¦. Meanwhile, Franco " who is the main marquee attraction -- delivers an often laconic, almost distracted performance ¦ Franco's George never seems as completely connected to Lennie as he needs to be for the piece to achieve its full nature of tragedy and heartbreak. Then again, even under the best circumstances, Of Mice and Men ¯ is far from a great play " it is dramatically repetitive and takes far too long (nearly 2 Ā½ hours) to get where it's obviously going from its opening moments. Shapiro's pacing is also a bit slack ¦ Still, it's O'Dowd who proves to be the right man to make this Men ¯ a worthwhile theatrical experience."
TheaterMania - Highly Recommended
"......in Anna D. Shapiro's compelling revival... Franco proves that he's not just playing games... O'Dowd is the ideal Lennie... Together the actors form one of the most affecting stage friendships in recent memory... Shapiro keeps the tension steadily rising until the final moments, when you're literally at the edge of your seats and ready to gasp. And the text, as recited by this assortment of extremely contemporary actors, sounds like it could have been written yesterday... The only weak link of the ensemble, really, is Meester... Shapiro's revival... makes a very strong case for this heartbreaking drama to receive the legacy it richly deserves."
