Bright Young Things
THINKFilm | Release Date: August 20, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
Fry establishes himself as an inspired, world-class talent behind the camera and delivers my favorite film of the year thus far. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This is a wickedly funny skewering of a prewar London society gone mad with frivolity. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A brilliant, giddy satiric romp with a discreetly moralistic viewpoint beneath its high-style wit. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie has a sweetness and tenderness for these characters, poor lambs, blissfully unaware that they're about to be flattened by World War II. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Waugh's dialogue, effortlessly catching the lockjaw intonations and facetious mannerisms of the British aristocracy between the world wars, is a gift to screenwriters and performers alike. The actors Mr. Fry has assembled receive the gift with gusto and grace. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
I could quibble with the conventionally romantic ending and a couple of small but not-so-cosmetic alterations, but on the whole, this is just how I'd always imagined one of my favorite comic novels should look and sound. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
in its best moments, Bright Young Things is as lithe and as wicked as its source material. Depending on how much of a Waugh purist you are, its flaws may trouble you as you're watching it. But afterward, they might not matter so much. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
As faithful to the spirit of the novel, and the era that inspired it, as a movie could be yet still feel as fresh as Paris Hilton dish on Page Six. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Both script and direction are the work of the glittering comedic polymath Stephen Fry. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
An enjoyable movie that marks a rattling good directorial debut for Stephen Fry, the English actor who's best known for starring in "Wilde" seven years ago. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Fry's film has the frantic energy and kaleidoscopic style of Waugh's feverish prose. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
A witty, energetic adaptation. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Acridly funny. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Essentially, the film stays at the party too long. But for a good stretch, its combination of twirling excitement and dry absurdity captures the spirit of characters too intoxicated to realize they're dancing over a chasm. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
There's no denying that Fry's movie is all the livelier for its gay embellishment. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Engaging, energetic film. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The performance that comes closest to capturing the Waugh elixir is Fenella Woolgar's as madcapping Miss Runcible, who ultimately commandeers a racing car. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
The film stumbles a bit in its third act, when war kills the good times for good. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It fails to dig beneath that surface picture and offer up anything in the way of explanation or motivation. Read full review
60
Film ThreatDaniel Wible
Fun, giddy, and intoxicating as the endless soirees in which it revels. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Fry's saving grace is his love of actors. The younger and less familiar performers are more than adequate, but it's the older guard that shines. Broadbent is marvelously rummy. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Lacks the novel's drier-than-dry bite, but compensates with a strong ensemble cast and a series of glamorous party sequences in which the decor has at least as much depth as the guests. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Despite some moments, the movie stubbornly fails to be the kind of sparkling ensemble piece one would expect from its credits -- and the fault seems to lie squarely with Fry's unfocused script, lackadaisical direction and conceptual sleight of hand. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
By the time Fry lets darkness encroach on these bright young things, the fizz is gone, and so is any reason to make us give a damn. Read full review
50
VarietyDerek Elley
An easy-to-digest slice of literate entertainment for upscale and older audiences that lacks a significant emotional undertow to make it a truly involving -- rather than simply voyeuristic -- experience. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Ultimately, though, the lively whirl of debauched, drug-fueled parties and toffee-nosed exchanges between heiresses and aristocrats fails to mask the essential hollowness of the narrative. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Soon settles down into a drizzle of steady mediocrity, never living up to all the frenzy of those first few moments. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Worse still is his idiotic tampering with the so-called "Happy Ending" -- in print, it's bleakly ironic; on screen, incongruously sentimental. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
Noisy and giddy, the film makes a stab at "Moulin Rouge" territory but ends up as a very trite story of boy loses girl, boy finds girl. It is also stridently camp -- not so much roaring '20s as screaming. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Under his (Fry’s) direction this 2003 British feature becomes a flat, depressing affair. Read full review
40
Village VoiceEd Park
Aside from cameos by Jim Broadbent (as the drunken major) and Peter O'Toole (as Nina's reclusive, eccentric father), much of the acting strains for a sophistication that quickly becomes annoying. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The movie, alas, is shackled somewhat by Waugh's original, pedestrian plot, which is too full of discrete incidents and slow to form an overarching story. Read full review
More From This Movie

64 Critic Reviews

5.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL