A Walk on the Moon
Miramax Home Entertainment | Release Date: March 26, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
The elements in A Walk on the Moon, which is directed by the actor Tony Goldwyn (the bad guy in "Ghost") and written by Pamela Gray, feel miraculously right. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Even when it turns turbulent, the film sustains its warm summer glow, and makes itself a conversation piece about the moral issues it means to raise. Read full review
90
NewsweekLaura Shin
A Walk on the Moon not only effectively captures the emotional development of all its characters, but it also neatly encapsulates the tumult of the 60s. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A film of exceptional emotional honesty. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAbby McGanney Nolan
Tony Goldwyn, making his directorial debut, lets his cast do the work for him, and they hold up well. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
The actor Tony Goldwyn, directing his first movie, and working from a fine screenplay by Pamela Gray, beautifully captures a moment in which the straitened moral world of the lower-middle-class Jewish characters is beginning to open up -- with necessarily painful results. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Pamela Gray's script and the way these actors bring the characters to life are the film's real treasures. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Whenever the drama drifts into soap opera, the actors restore the balance. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A nostalgia movie that doesn't get sticky with false sentiment. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Moments of light comedy keeps the tone from becoming too heavy without sabotaging the movie's dramatic underpinning. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
First-time director Tony Goldwyn (scion of the family that started MGM) brings a freshness to an old story. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
Paula Gray wrote the script (it was her UCLA senior thesis), and if there are gooey spots, there's also nicely turned, lived-in dialogue and a gentle affection for all her characters. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It believes, in the end, in the decency of most people. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This intimate, bittersweet romance is proof that a familiar story and the trappings of a done-to-death era can still seem fresh and engaging in the right hands. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyTroy Patterson
The tone of this tale is more easy-listening than acid rock. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Standing back a step from A Walk on the Moon's dippy charms, the movie delivers less than it initially promises. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It's just a simple, actorly drama about big, gaping emotional needs and the consequences a woman can face -- particularly during the 1960s -- for simply owning up to them. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The movie, which leans too heavily on the metaphorical value of the two historic events, dives from heady romance into heavy moralizing. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie's problem is that it loads the casting in a way that tilts the movie in the direction of a Harlequin romance. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
Though short on subtlety, A Walk on the Moon does offer the consolation of some decent performances. Read full review
50
VarietyGlenn Lovell
Despite strategic references to Joan Baez and pot, pic's sense of time and place feels synthetic. Read full review
40
EmpireTrevor Lewis
The romantic plotting is so cliched that the denouement may as well have been e-mailed, and the director has fooled himself into believing that a rousing soundtrack is adequate shorthand for the mood of the flower power generation. Read full review
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