Dangerous Minds
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: August 11, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New YorkerTerrence Rafferty
But the cut-to-the-enlightenment dramaturgy of Ronald Bass's screenplay feels desperate and false. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
In the case of Dangerous Minds, we get an idealized version of inner city life, where, though problems may require more than the wave of a magic wand to remove, the solutions still seem too facile. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
It's all quite inspiring, but despite the fact that this is based on someone's actual experiences, the whole thing has an unfortunate Hollywood ring to it. Read full review
50
Washington PostKevin McManus
The sweet story turns stickygooey, however, as writer Ronald Bass sprinkles the script with saccharine lines that sound plain dumb coming from high schoolers. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
While films are admired for making fantasy real, some manage a reverse, unwanted kind of alchemy, turning involving reality into meaningless piffle. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineStaff(not credited)
Director John N. Smith, who helmed last year's masterly "The Boys of St. Vincent", is reduced to carrying Michelle Pfeiffer's baggage in this assembly-line star vehicle. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Pfeiffer tackles the part with obvious dedication, but she's thwarted from the get-go by the heavily proscribed nature of the role as written. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Yet despite its promising pedigree, Dangerous Minds has a slick, syrupy fraudulence -- it's like an Afterschool Special made for MTV. Read full review
40
Washington PostRita Kempley
The film fleetingly touches on the underfunding of schools and other administrative problems as well as the more compelling personal issues of teen pregnancy and violence. But the characters are so poorly drawn and underdeveloped that they seem to be little more than personifications of these societal ills. Read full review
40
EmpireCaroline Westbrook
Pfeiffer's performance supersedes any of the material, but the rest of the film is a seething mass of clich's despite the "true story" origins. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
False and condescending films in this genre are nothing new, but Dangerous Minds steamrollers its way over some real talent. Read full review
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