81
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganNo fiction could hope to match the strangeness and sadness of the truth here.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperChicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDirectors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes do nomination-worthy work in telling the story of what women had to endure in the years immediately preceding Roe v. Wade — and how one group of smart, independent, determined, resourceful and brave women in Chicago created an underground network to facilitate illegal but safe abortions for literally thousands of individuals from 1968-1973.
- 88The Associated PressMark KennedyThe Associated PressMark KennedyLessin and Pildes do a masterful job of putting the Janes in historical context, seeing how their desire to offer safe abortions grew out of the revolutionary ’60s and yet how women’s issues were often deemed secondary to male-led efforts.
- 88Paste MagazineShayna Maci WarnerPaste MagazineShayna Maci WarnerIf anything, The Janes is a call to find and form networks in one’s own community. It’s a reminder, as the inevitability of another abortion ban inches closer and closer every day, there will always be people who disregard what is lawful in favor of what is right—and documentary can be a tool in teaching what, who and how to effectively parse and evade that lawful, undeniably wrong side of history.
- 83IndieWireKate ErblandIndieWireKate ErblandLessin, Pildes, and their many subjects eschew cheap emotion in favor of something much more intimate and, ultimately, more honest.
- 80CNNBrian LowryCNNBrian LowryFeaturing women involved in an underground network, the HBO presentation is a snapshot that echoes far beyond its specific moment.
- 75TheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanTheWrapElizabeth WeitzmanIt’s a shame that Lessin and Pildes don’t tell us what these amazing women went on to do after the Collective ended. But they all remain, half a century later, passionate and eloquent and thoughtful and fierce.
- 75Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsIdeally, with Roe about to be erased from the books, The Janes would land on a more complex note of imminent, controversial change afoot. Small matters. It’s a very fine film
- 70The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSpeaking with a number of the women who broke the law in the name of justice, and others who were involved in their underground network, The Janes directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes have made an urgent and thoroughly engaging group portrait.