Hello, Dolly!
Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: December 16, 1969 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
An expensive, expansive, sometimes exaggerated, sentimental, nostalgic, wholesome, pictorially opulent $20 million filmusical [from the 1964 Broadway production, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman] with the charisma of Barbra Streisand in the title role. Read full review
70
The New YorkerPauline Kael
The whole archaic big musical circus here surrounds a Happening -- Barbra Streisand -- and it's all worth seeing in order to see her.
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Dolly lost a fortune and helped to all but kill the genre, yet this famed musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker is more fun than its rep indicates. [15 Nov 2005, p.8D]
60
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Emphasis has been placed on extravaganza, when it should really have been placed on getting good performances out of a talented cast. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
It's an exercise in star turns, surrounded by elephantine blandness. The supporting cast look, and act, like refugees from Disney or Oral Roberts University, handpicked not to ruffle the star. Read full review
50
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
By the time Streisand takes over the entire movie with the title number, in which the massive waitstaff of an upscale restaurant gathers to sing and dance her praises, I couldn’t help but wonder what all the fuss was about. Read full review
50
The New York TimesVincent Canby
Gene Kelly, who directed two classic musicals with Stanley Donen, here acts like a caretaker of a big, valuable property. He and Michael Kidd, his choreographer, have protected everything Gower Champion gave the original, and added nothing to the heritage of the musical screen except statistics. Read full review
50
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Only Streisand's second movie, but already (as co-star Matthau grumbled) she was hogging the screen. The trouble is that there isn't much to hog in this elephant which gave Star! a helping hoof in burying the Hollywood musical. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEric Henderson
The choreography, the performances, the set decoration, the dialogue, everything about Hello, Dolly! is played directly to the back row of the theater, which would be fine on the stage, but on anamorphic widescreen close-ups tends to be more frightening than mirthful. Read full review
50
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
It relies almost exclusively on the celebrated eyes, ears, nose and throat of Streisand. Her musicianship remains irreproachable. But her mannerisms are so arch and calculated that one half expects to find a key implanted in her back. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderPat Graham
Gene Kelly directed, a long way from Terpsichore apparently, though not, alas, from the Thanksgiving turkey. Read full review
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