“The Journey,” a new film about the unlikely partnership between Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness and the late unionist firebrand Rev. Ian Paisley, has debuted to dreadful reviews.

The Hollywood Reporter says “deficiencies in script and direction render the vehicle less than road-worthy.” The movie is “best suited to a mid-evening UK television slot” and “has little hope of big-screen exposure beyond the formerly war-torn province whose history it depicts.”

“The Journey,” according to The Telegraph, is “a graceless Wikipedian plod through the Irish peace process … a tremendously promising idea squandered beyond the limits of human ken.”

Adds The Guardian: “This film feels the need to be fair, to be balanced. That is understandable. But it is tiptoeing on eggshells of its own making.”

“The Journey” debuted 7 September at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. As yet no trailers are posted on YouTube.

Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley, left, and Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness in “The Journey.” Below, the real deal.

Albert Gonzalez/RollingNews.ie