Cunk on Cinema and Prima Facie Top the Week’s Best Reviews
Diane Morgan's Philomena Cunk takes on Hollywood and Cynthia Erivo plays a lawyer in a sexual assault drama in the week's best-rated culture. A David Walliams documentary and a Rivals return also drew strong notices, as reviewers praised both comedy and heavier, more serious work.
Philomena Cunk's Hollywood guide Cunk on Cinema and Cynthia Erivo's legal drama Prima Facie headed the week's best-rated culture releases, as of November 14, 2026. The list also took in a documentary about David Walliams, a new run of Rivals and an Irish crime caper.
Cunk turns to Hollywood
Diane Morgan's daft documentarian is back with an unofficial guide to Hollywood. Reviewer Rachel Aroesti said it delivers "belly laugh after belly laugh".
She went further. "If, like me, you consider writing stupid jokes to be another of humanity's greatest achievements, you'll have no choice but to consider Cunk on Cinema a true work of art," Aroesti wrote.
Erivo carries Prima Facie
Prima Facie adapts Suzie Miller's international stage hit for the screen. Erivo plays a lawyer whose career defending rape suspects is undermined by her own experience.
Peter Bradshaw praised "a blazingly fierce, effortlessly commanding central performance from Erivo, like something from classical drama". He said that performance powers the movie.
The week's must-watch documentary
The pick for anyone watching just one title is a documentary on a three-year investigation into claims by multiple women of David Walliams's predatory behavior. Lucy Mangan called it "a meticulous hour detailing a meticulous investigation".
Mangan added that it is only left to hope it brings about "equally meticulous change".
Mangan also reviewed the new run of Rivals, which grows more poignant after the shock death of Monica. She said it is still "a joy", with warmth, wit, intelligence and brilliant actors, plus a touching appearance by Dame Jilly. There is still plenty of backcombing, betrayals and sex.
Other titles that drew praise
Another documentary tells the story of Janet Williams and Emma Murphy, two mothers of children with disabilities who exposed a horrifying scandal. Murphy recalls being referred to as "bored, hysterical housewives".
Tall Tales & Murder stars Aidan Gillen as a gangster who wakes from a coma and meets a nurse with a drug habit. Hannah J Davies said it is based on the first of Caimh McDonnell's Dublin Trilogy novels, written for TV by Stuart Carolan, and moves "at a mile a minute".
Director Vincent Munier takes his father and son into the Vosges forest in France in a study of human-animal interaction. Leslie Felperin called it "a subtle, tender work".
The list also includes David Wilkinson's film about his own bowel cancer treatment. It asks why so many much younger people are getting the same diagnosis.
