Hysteria
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: May 18, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
17
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumMay 16, 2012
Whenever Rupert Everett appears as a rich fellow who distinctly does not fancy ladies, it's a hysterical history lesson of the hilarious variety. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedMay 17, 2012
Considering the subject, ripe with titillating possibilities, it's surprisingly about as sexy as a week-old meat loaf. Tastefully directed by Tanya Wexler, it is a total joy from start to finish. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 13, 2012
Hysteria is a one-joke movie, but when a joke is told this well, it doesn't matter. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMay 31, 2012
Hysteria is a romantic comedy, not an erotic one. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 23, 2012
The performances are spot on, and I especially like the spunky Gyllenhaal, who with this film and the underrated "Secretary" (2002), has built up a nice sideline in sexual exploration. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartMay 18, 2012
If director Tanya Wexler occasionally wanders into excess cutesiness...she makes up for it with a surplus of eye-opening historical details and a refreshing warmth for all her characters, even the ones whose views are clearly on the way out. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 12, 2012
Hysteria, is a pleasurable diversion, even if it could have used a touch more spark in the writing. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJun 14, 2012
For a film that shows the folly of failing to take the female orgasm seriously, Hysteria ends up taking a silly angle on a potentially fascinating slice of secret history. Read full review
65
MovielineStephanie ZacharekMay 17, 2012
The picture is at least spirited, a jaunty trifle that's low on eroticism but high on cartoony coquettishness. Like the little motorized whatsit that is its subject, it does have its charms. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJun 7, 2012
Hysteria never gets too preachy or ponderous, and there's something in the film to educate even the most learned viewer. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 31, 2012
It's cute. So is the movie. If it never rises to greatness, it may be because it's also a fairly formulaic romcom. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 17, 2012
The comic elements of this semi-factual tale are heavy-handed, and a key romance falls flat. Despite its titillating subject matter, Hysteria is only mildly stimulating. The final third of the story meanders during a tedious trial and clumsy speechifying. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 17, 2012
Hysteria's "hook" is that it chronicles the development of one of the 20th century's most popular home appliances: the vibrator. However, although the details surrounding the deplorable state of women's medicine during the Victorian era are intriguing, the central story - a romantic comedy between a progressive woman and a forward-thinking doctor - is flaccid. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundMay 13, 2012
Hysteria's happy ending isn't the type that calls for a cigarette, and it certainly isn't the one the film deserves. Read full review
60
EmpireAnna SmithSep 17, 2012
Lightly humorous, well performed and not nearly as smutty as you might imagine. The earth may not move, but there are tingles of pleasure along the way. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 15, 2012
The joy of Hysteria, like the joy of certain other things, isn't necessarily rooted in the element of surprise. Rather, it's in the pleasure of the path taken to get to that crescendo. Read full review
60
NPRJeannette CatsoulisMay 22, 2012
Hysteria, a disappointingly limp ode to the invention of the vibrator, plays like a Merchant Ivory Production of "Portnoy's Complaint." Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMay 17, 2012
While a delicate topic would seem to require a delicate touch, Wexler goes more for cheeky entertainment. To some degree, it works. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoMay 12, 2012
Though the film is a fairly plastic British period piece with all the intimacy of a Hitachi Wand, the script captures some delicate and intelligent facets of a tensely conflicted era. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMay 18, 2012
Even the humor is played too broadly – another notch and we'd be in "Monty Python" territory, though not half as witty. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJun 13, 2012
Rather born to wear a frock coat, Dancy shares the stammer-blush, winning-grin methodology of countryman Hugh Grant, only with more probity and better posture. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 8, 2012
As a sex-education comedy, Hysteria is flaccid, forced and unfunny. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 7, 2012
The problem with Hysteria is that it keeps patting itself and us on the back for knowing better. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 24, 2012
There is no denying that every time Gyllenhaal steps into a frame she takes a sleeping movie and wakes it up. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 24, 2012
In fact, the problem with the film is that, despite an excellent cast that includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy and Rupert Everett, it doesn't really know what it is. A little of this, a little of that and by the time it's done, it adds up to not much at all. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 24, 2012
The movie lacks wit. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen HoldenMay 17, 2012
Silly, featherweight comedy. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis HarveyMay 12, 2012
Dancy manages a few sly moments, and Everett is as ever a scene-stealer, if barely recognizable under a beard and altered features, and with a raspy voice. But the estimable Pryce and Jones are wasted, along with many other fine thesps, while Gyllenhaal works too gratingly hard in an already strained role. Read full review
40
The GuardianDavid CoxSep 21, 2012
Gyllenhaal rises above the tedium; sadly, not far enough. Great English accent, though. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMay 18, 2012
The whole thing, shot in the manner of "Masterpiece Theatre," with a flaccid musical score to match, is itself hopelessly antiquated, greeting with very British giggles, and without a trace of honest curiosity, the needs of the women it seeks to honor. [21 May 2012, p.81]
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 15, 2012
There's nothing strictly wrong with any of this, except for the fact that even a buttoned-down period piece like "Topsy-Turvy" feels sexier. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonMay 15, 2012
Proceeds as a tedious, clumsy diddle, constantly reminding viewers how much progress has been made since the Victorian era. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorMay 17, 2012
Unfortunately, Hysteria is much closer in its effects to a more significant and much larger 19th-century invention. Like the locomotive, this costume drama proceeds noisily and methodically toward a destination that is agreed upon from the outset. Good orgasms and good movies generally offer surprises; good trains do not. Read full review
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