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
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
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