Movie · 2019 · History, Drama, Mystery, Thriller · 2h 4m · English
Curator score: 0.3/10 (55.9K ratings)
The incredible true story that defined our world.
Overview
Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.
Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Marsan, Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Irvine, David O'Hara, Anthony Andrews, Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Dillane, Steve Coogan, Laurence Fox, Lars Brygmann, Brendan Patricks, Adam Fergus, Brian Fortune, Aidan McArdle, David Crowley, Kieran O'Reilly, Bryan Murray
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A handsome, old-fashioned period drama with strong lead performances and an appealingly unusual subject, but it’s also uneven, overcooked, and feels like a film that never fully escaped its troubled production. If you’re drawn to literary history, Oxford-set prestige drama, or actor-driven character pieces, there’s enough here to justify a watch.
Best for
viewers who like stately British period dramas
fans of performance-heavy historical stories
people interested in language, books, and intellectual obsession
audiences who don’t mind a slightly melodramatic, old-school style
Skip if
you want a tightly paced thriller
you’re allergic to theatrical acting and heavy accents
you prefer historically rigorous biographical films
you need a film with a fresh visual or narrative style
Overview
The Professor and the Madman is the sort of earnest, literate historical drama that can feel catnip to a very specific audience. Its central hook — the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary through an unlikely correspondence between scholar and inmate — is inherently fascinating, and the film leans into that with period detail, melancholy, and a genuine affection for words.
Worth noting
The strongest asset is the cast. Mel Gibson and Sean Penn bring enough gravity and volatility to make the relationship feel larger than the material sometimes does, even when the film slips into broad emotion or stiff exposition. It has the polished look of a prestige drama, but the storytelling often feels more conventional than its premise deserves.
Bottom line
As a result, it lands as a respectable, occasionally moving curiosity rather than a fully satisfying drama. For viewers who enjoy Oxford academia, Victorian atmosphere, and stories about obsession, redemption, and the labor behind great books, it’s worth a look. For everyone else, it may feel like a beautifully mounted but overly mannered lesson in dictionary history.
Top Letterboxd reviews
JBird (2.5★) · 144 likes
Sean Penn and Mel Gibson are "scary",
So a lot of folks may be quite wary.
See them together,
As they exchange letters,
In a film about the dictionary.
Cinematic Underdogs (3★) · 93 likes
I’m pretty sure this got left in a vault or stuck in postproduction for a few decades. Whatever the case, it’s clearly a late 90’s/early 00’s relic — an overacted, sugar-coated, adult drama. That said, this lofty film about wordsmiths and philologists scouring the tomes of time to create the most comprehensive dictionary known to man is my kind of stuffy, Oxford-set, anglophilic period piece.
From hearing words like ensanguined & baying causally interspersed in the dialogue to learning about the… more
matt lynch (3★) · 71 likes
Honestly I've seen way worse episodes of Masterpiece Theatre.
Mister Cap (3.5★) · 65 likes
"The Professor and the Madman" dreht sich um die Entstehung des Oxford English Dictionary. Richtig, es geht um ein Wörterbuch. Zugegeben, das Buch ist bestimmt sehr bekannt und weitverbreitet, aber wer kann sich für die Verfilmung eines Wörterbuchs begeistern? Hoffentlich viele, den der Film ist es wert.
Dieser Film lebt in erster Linie von den ausgezeichneten Leistungen von Mel Gibson und Sean Penn. Mel Gibson ist wie immer großartig und auch Sean Penn liefert eine tolle, vielschichtige Interpretation, einer faszinierenden… more
shookone (1.5★) · 62 likes
Mel Gibson lost rock-paper-scissors vs Sean Penn, had to leave the interesting part for heavy overacting to his fellow collaborator and got himself a fine scotsman dialect to dance along instead. Sean Penn meanwhile was happy to not have to take uppers to stay awake for this one, simply going traditionally craycray being an "actor".
this looks so competently made, like a high budget 90s flick, but drowned horrifically in public reception. make no mistake, it's utterly boring, but very pretty to look at. Penn and Gibson go at it hard, are they already playing for their survival? are we witnessing two careers closely before vanishing?