Isn't She Great
Universal Home Entertainment | Release Date: January 28, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
9
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Isn't great, but it's an enjoyable if overly discreet and romanticized look at a long-vanished show-business world. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
A surprisingly warm and engaging entertainment - brassy, schmaltzy, funny. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Unexpectedly entertaining, if you're willing to put up with the picture's stagy look, over-the-top moods, and heavy doses of vulgarity. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Ah, what glorious casting!
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
A cupcake of a movie, a sweet and lightweight little thing that's all but served up in a ruffled paper cup. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRussel Smith
An ideal diversion for one of those evenings when low expectations feel more like a state of grace than a surrender to vice. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's peppy and cheesy and filled with life and humor in just the way, you imagine, that Susann might have enjoyed. Read full review
65
TNT RoughCutSarah Raskin
As brain candy goes, Isn't She Great is just that and a little bit more. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Intermittently funny. Read full review
60
Film.comRobert Horton
Good enough in spots to make you wish it could have sustained its campier inclinations. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Though it does present the facts of Susann's life, it skims them so quickly and with such glorious glee that we never get a sense of who this woman really was. Read full review
40
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
A watery cocktail of second-rate, Ab Fab-style bitchery and shameless schmaltz. Read full review
40
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Just isn't enough.
40
NewsweekAnn-Rebecca Laschever
Midler's performance does not stand out. She remains very much Bette Midler. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Contains several profanely amusing moments, but they don't add up to much. Read full review
40
Film.comJohn Hartl
Curiously bland and flavorless. Read full review
40
Film.comMoira MacDonald
What on earth is Stockard Channing doing in this mess? Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Aspires to be both stylish and coarse, camp and vulgar -- which is pretty much how Bette Midler plays it. Read full review
38
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
Leaves an unintentional unpleasant aftertaste. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
A flabbergasting waste of time and talent. Read full review
38
USA TodayMike Clark
A bottom-rung Bette Midler vehicle disguised as a biopic of novelist Jacqueline Susann, the movie is a wannabe satire shackled by misplaced reverence. Read full review
38
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
Second-banana material. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
If you're looking for laughs, give "Valley of the Dolls" another read instead. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Lame comic-strip excuse for a biopic. Read full review
30
VarietyEmanuel Levy
Isn't even unintentionally funny enough to qualify as guilty pleasure a la "Valley of the Dolls." Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Just plain bad. Really, really bad. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A flat and peculiar film. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A major washout. Read full review
20
SlateDavid Edelstein
It used to be that Midler was a life force, but whenever she tries to play one, she looks like she's floating in formaldehyde. Read full review
20
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
An utter drag, a tepid and sterilized telling of Susann's life. Read full review
10
TimeRichard Schickel
One of the worst messes in years. Read full review
0
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Has to be among the worst movies ever made. Read full review
0
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
As bumbling and mindless, as naively misconceived, as that clapping-through-tears moniker. Read full review
0
Washington PostDesson Thomson
If it were the last videotape available in the only video store in the remotest corner of Alaska, I'd take one last slug of Jack Daniels and start walking directly into the howling snows. Read full review
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