De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) | Release Date: January 23, 1987 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
5
Negative:
2
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100
Boston GlobeStaff (Not Credited)
Director Bruce Beresford keeps stars Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, and Diane Keaton firmly rooted in the deep, dark black humor of Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. [01 Jul 2014, p.G15]
80
The three actresses put so much faith in their roles that they carry the movie, triumphantly. They take the play's borderline pathos about heartbreakingly screwed-up lives--it's a mixture of looniness and lyricism--and give it real vitality.
70
In the hard-driven, sitcomish Broadway production, these colorful disasters too often seemed willed and self-conscious. The difference here, under Bruce Beresford's direction, is the unalloyed pleasure of watching Spacek, Lange and Keaton devour these juicy parts with lip-smacking relish. [22 Dec 1986, p.75]
58
The director, Bruce Beresford, is so eager to crowd the screen with eccentric details of behavior and setting that the verbal subtleties and rhythms get twisted out of shape. Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, and Diane Keaton give all-out performances that occasionally jell into true ensemble work. [12 Dec 1986, p.35]
50
Crimes of the Heart feels random, vague and sluggish. The incidents don't build upon one another, but merely collapse into an undifferentiated heap. [12 Dec 1986, p.A]