Grand Canyon
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: December 25, 1991 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
A superbly heartfelt drama for six diverse actors, it is as colorfully striated as its majestic namesake - and almost as wide. The film's depth is another matter altogether. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleLouis Black
There are great scenes (many) and terrific performances, especially Glover and Woodard. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Ridiculously ambitious, though often likable and touching in its sincerity. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In a time when our cities are wounded, movies like Grand Canyon can help to heal. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Grand Canyon finds Kasdan in firm control of a restrained and intelligent style. Eliciting first-rate performances from a well-chosen cast, he brings these to the screen with graceful eloquence - giving words as much weight as actions. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Grand Canyon is most gripping when Kasdan shows people waking up to the world and finding that they need more than bromides. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
[Grand Canyon] eventually pulls its punches, taking an unconvincingly beatific look at the problems and dangers that have been so persuasively outlined in what has come before. But until it hits that false note, Mr. Kasdan's film is at least as fascinating as it is amorphous. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Schickel
If sometimes this loose and anecdotal film loses dramatic pace, it always rights itself. And it remains steadily in touch with its best qualities - generosity, common sense and a mature decency that is neither smug nor sentimental. Read full review
60
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
[An] earnest, often moving but not totally successful film. Read full review
70
Washington PostJoe Brown
The graceful and affecting Grand Canyon, with its flock of fortysomethings, is much more than just "The Bigger Chill." Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Grand Canyon successfully recreates the random, haphazard ways in which individual lives intersect, and captures the sense of menace and disintegration that permeate contemporary urban life. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The cast is equally strong (especially McDonnell), but the vast subject and the shifting settings force Kasdan all over the map. [10 Jan 1992]
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
As sanctimonious as it is sincere, this is a well-meaning picture that is seriously stuck on itself, that can't hide its air of self-satisfaction. [25 Dec 1991]
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Canyon is similarly slick, though even more heavy-handed in hammering home its points. [26 Dec 1991]
70
Wall Street JournalJulie Salamon
Too often the film languishes as Mr. Kasdan poses Big Questions and then has his characters answer them in conversations that are so casual they seem improvised. [26 Dec 1991]
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