High Spirits

Cineplex Odeon Films | Release Date: November 18, 1988

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

47	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

EmpireWilliam Thomas

It's safe, it's mainstream and it's silly, but Guttenberg and Hannah strike up enough chemistry to give this big budget apparition at least a little depth. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

The American big-movie sex comedy conventions overwhelm Jordan’s liberating poetry, his wild lyricism. Read full review

Janet Maslin

Luckily, High Spirits has a good cast and enough joie de vivre to rise above some of its underlying clumsiness. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

High Spirits is a piece of supernatural Irish whimsy with a few appealing dark underpinnings, but it still rises and falls constantly on the basis of its moment-to-moment inspirations. Read full review

Rita Kempley

Writer-director Neil Jordan shows no knack for comedy, nor is he as kinky as he was on Mona Lisa, and kinky is what is called for. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The script seems a collection of loose ends and rewrites; the direction is deeply dispirited; and with the exception of O'Toole and a couple of engaging vignettes, it's a complete turkey. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Despite considerable production support and a relatively high budget (it was shot on location in Ireland and on a massive interior set at England's famed Shepperton studios), this is easily the weakest effort in director-screenwriter Jordan's solid career. Read full review

Jay Carr

Neil Jordan's High Spirits wants to be a supernatural comedy. But it isn't super, it isn't natural, it isn't high, and it isn't spirited. [18 Nov 1988, p.33]

Dave Kehr

The film shows very little of the nar-rative assurance that has character-ized Jordan's previous work. [21 Nov 1988, p.2C]

Juan Carlos Coto

Jordan's jokes are sometimes stereotypical barbs tossed at Americans, but the Irish director definitely can inject hackneyed Hollywood devices with high-spirited fun. Be warned, though, you'll have to stomach some dismal scenes between Hannah and Guttenberg -- the biggest stiffs in this movie. [18 Nov 1988, p.D8]

Pauline Kael

Once you get past the clumsily antic early scenes, the moody texture can take hold of your imagination. At its best, the film is a soft Irish kiss.