Grandview, U.S.A.

Warner Bros. | Release Date: August 3, 1984

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

55	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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Critic Reviews

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Dave Kehr

It is a shock and a pleasure to see an American film that doesn't wallow in complacency, but instead suggests—however fleetingly—that disappointment is also a part of life. Curtis is particularly impressive in the strength and maturity she brings to a role written as pure fantasy. Read full review

Bob Thomas

Rarely has a major film been so coolly designed to capture the young market. Yet for all its crass calculation, Grandview, U.S.A. has a buoyant vitality, an engaging lack of pretense and occasional bursts of humor and sentiment. The movie's prime asset is a bright, attractive cast. [07 Aug 1984]

Bill Cosford

Kleiser seems to know something about style and pace after all, and he seems to know something about having fun with a movie. These are minor revelations, and they make Grandview U.S.A. almost unique among its class of film over the past five years: It's worth seeing. [03 Aug 1984, p.C9]

Janet Maslin

Grandview, U.S.A. is slight, but it has a good enough cast to keep it watchable. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

It's pleasant enough, as a view of small-town Americana, but played very straight. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

It is a small film, with small, and at times cliched, ideas about rural life, but there is a sweetness about it that is an appealing and refreshing change from the usual roller-coaster films that bombard audiences in the summer. Read full review

Gary Arnold

Grandview, U.S.A., shot in the picturesque small town of Pontiac, Ill., opens with some pleasantly misleading evocations of Breaking Away, then degenerates into one of those blithely cretinous entertainments that leave you despising characters you were presumably meant to like. [08 Aug 1984, p.F9]

David Sterritt

Failed comedy-drama with two intermingled plots, one about a high school boy seeking his own way in life, the other about an older woman with career and romance problems. Directed flatly and lifelessly by Randal Kleiser. [16 Aug 1984, p.31]