The Lady in the Van on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states, "Led by a marvelous performance from Maggie Smith, "Lady in the Van" wrings poignant, often hilarious insight from its fact-based source material." On Metacritic the film holds a score of 70 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Guy Lodge, of "Variety" magazine, attended the worldwide premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. After the screening, he described Smith's portrayal of Mary Shepherd as "one of the most tailor-made leading roles of her late career". Even though, he says, the film is "low
The Lady in the Van she hears a note; and her ragtag wardrobe that's been assembled from various dumpsters". In spite of the humour, Scheck praised Smith for "subtly convey[ing] the emotional pain and desperation of [an] addled old woman, especially in the scenes [where she is] taken away by social services and gently treated to a thorough washing, feeding and medical examination". Ian Nathan, of "Empire" magazine, awarded the film four out of five stars. Like many, he applauded Smith's "liberating" role, describing her as "shrill and hilarious, but not a joke". He also commended the directing, saying: "Unshowy to a fault, Hytner delivers