The Righteous Path
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Todd Haynes
Writer: Andrew Doster
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Alicia Witt, Sadie Soverall, Cary Elwes, Nick Offerman, Amy Fortsyth, Cody Christian
Budget: $20,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $11,220,939
Foreign Box Office: $9,519,333
Total Profit: -$16,297,513
Reaction: The numbers are admittedly lower than we were hoping for Jessie Buckley's latest starring vehicle for the studio following her turns in the X-Men films and last season's The Midnight Library.
"The Righteous Path is a mostly compelling, emotionally grounded cult-escape drama elevated by an outstanding Jessie Buckley performance. The film occasionally leans too hard on familiar trauma-recovery beats, and its final act resolves a bit too neatly, but Buckley and Alicia Witt create a deeply affecting emotional core. Nick Offerman is also quietly excellent in a role that could have easily been thankless." - Cal Crowe, Washington Globe
"Despite Jessie Buckley’s deeply committed performance, The Righteous Path often feels like prestige-season bait dressed up as psychological drama. The material checks many familiar boxes—religious trauma, female self-discovery, inspirational healing, literary rebirth—but rarely finds a fresh angle on them. By the final act, the film’s tidy catharsis feels less earned than engineered for emotional applause." - Dave Manning, Ridgefield Press
Jessie Buckley gives The Righteous Path genuine emotional force, but the cult is thinly characterised and Anna’s escape becomes an increasingly conventional thriller driven by coincidences, especially Carl repeatedly appearing whenever the plot needs rescuing. The overly tidy police raid, heroic takedown of Elijah, new family and book-signing finale drain the story of psychological complexity and feel far less challenging than a Todd Haynes film should." - Jonah Halberg, The Atlantic
Rated R for thematic material, language, and violence.
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