The fact that I thought Wuthering Heights was called Weathering Heights for the last 30 years pretty much tells you my experience with this story! To say that I came into what is about the 100th retelling of this classic Emily Brontë story is an understatement! It has been adapted many times before, but Margo Robbie and a quiet weekend at my theatre was what it took to get me to go and see it.
Where to Watch Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights was released on February 13, 2026. You can expect to be able to stream the film from HBO Max some time after its theatrical release.
Wuthering Heights Movie Review and Direction
I had no preconceptions of what Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights would or should be. I saw the trailer, the movie was heavily advertised, and actually, at my theatre, one of the posters for this kind of looked like an 80s VHS box, and that (along with Margot Robbie, of course) was what made me give the movie a chance. This had a pretty heavy advertising campaign here in the UK, and the Sunday afternoon showing that I went to was pretty busy.
The Story and the Characters
Let me tell you right off the bat, this was rough going! I felt every bit of the two-plus hours of this movie, and had I been watching it at home, I probably would have turned it off before it finished. This is easily the worst movie theatre experience I have had so far in 2026! I kind of knew going in that this was Fennell’s interpretation of this classic story, but as someone who had no clue what the original story was, I had to just take it as it was, and I really did not like it.
Sure, the old-timey setting of it was cool, and to be fair, I thought that the movie looked fantastic with some really cool costumes and sets. But the story and the characters were just awful! I would say that this is a movie that is style over substance, but I think that would be giving it too much credit.
Set in the 1770’s, Wuthering Heights is the story of Cathy and Heathcliff, and boy, do I wish I were watching the Heathcliff animated series I liked as a kid instead of this! Cathy is from a very upper-class family, but her father is an alcoholic, and their prized home estate, which is the titular Wuthering Heights, is kind of falling into disrepair due to her fathers poor decisions.
One day, her father returns home with a young boy called Heathcliff, and he is to be Cathy’s plaything. Heathcliff and Cathy grow up together, inseparable, they are best friends, but as they get older, their feelings start to get complicated! Of course, Cathy could never actually be with someone of Heathcliff’s standing, even when he grows up to become the hot Jacob Elordi!
Final Thoughts
Look, this is just boring as hell. The movie tries to be all edgy and cool with lots of profanity and sex scenes, but it all just feels forced. It is like it is some kind of horny teenagers fan fiction, which I guess was kind of the point of telling the story this way. However, I just found it all really cringy. In many ways, this reminds me of the movie Saltburn, with how hard it tried to be cool.
This was brutal, and I cannot think of another movie I saw in the theatre that I was as close to walking out of as I was here. The only saving grace here was that my theatre had the awesome Hoppers Popcorn bucket back in stock, so I was able to get one of those, which made this trip to the theatre worth it.
