One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
United Artists | Release Date: November 19, 1975 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris Nashawaty
Nicholson’s live-wire performance turns what could have been a standard movie malcontent into a martyr. Read full review
100
The Observer (UK)Wendy Ide
It’s not just Nicholson’s performance that makes this film a masterpiece; it’s the fact that Forman was able to prevent that performance from capsizing the whole enterprise. Read full review
100
Total FilmJane Crowther
Playing the mental-hospital firebrand who rebels against monstrous Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), Nicholson seduces in an anti-establishment classic with a gut-punch exit. Read full review
100
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
In Forman’s hands, McMurphy becomes more than a rebel in this specific time and place. He becomes mythic—a symbol for irrepressible Life. Read full review
100
EmpireJake Hamilton
Too many classic set pieces to mention but keep your ears cocked for that immortal line "Mmmm, Juicy Fruit." Certified brilliance. Read full review
100
USA TodayMike Clark
A masterpiece. (9 Jan 1998, p.3D)
100
VarietyStaff (Not credited)
Brilliant cinema theatre. Read full review
100
Film ThreatAlex Saveliev
Forman’s classic has not aged one bit. In fact, it’s become more relevant than ever, considering today’s tumultuous climate. Read full review
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
Here is the bruised-plum role that put Jack Nicholson into the biggest of big leagues. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsKathleen Carroll
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the best film therapy one can recommend. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterArthur Knight
With One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Forman takes his rightful place as one of our most creative young directors. His casting is inspired, his sense of milieu is assured, and he could probably wring Academy Award performances from a stone. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.
The film remains a stunning collective of method acting and 1970s social critique. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Although the picture has not aged as well as some of its contemporaries, its themes remain germane, the story has lost none of its punch, and the performances retain their freshness. Read full review
80
CineVueMaximilian Von Thun
Its honest and forthright depiction of mental illness, combined with Nicholson’s tour-de-force bull in a china shop performance, mean that it has lost none of its power to provoke and entertain in the four decades since its release. Read full review
80
The New YorkerPauline Kael
The story and the acting make the film emotionally powerful. And Nicholson, looking punchy, tired, and baffled--and not on top of his character (as he is often is)--lets you see into him, rather than controlling what he lets you see.
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not credited)
Jarring and electrifying drama. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
So good in so many of its parts that there's a temptation to forgive it when it goes wrong. But it does go wrong, insisting on making larger points than its story really should carry, so that at the end, the human qualities of the characters get lost in the significance of it all. And yet there are those moments of brilliance. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
This slick and entertaining 1975 film of Ken Kesey's cult novel will inevitably disappoint admirers of director Milos Forman's earlier work. Read full review
70
The New York TimesVincent Canby
A comedy that can't quite support its tragic conclusion, which is too schematic to be honestly moving, but it is acted with such a sense of life that one responds to its demonstration of humanity if not to its programmed metaphors. Read full review
60
Time OutTom Huddleston
The supporting cast is flawless, with a special mention owed to Brad Dourif as poor, doomed Billy Bibbit. But the script lacks the woozy, otherworldly subtlety of Kesey’s book, relying instead on pop psychology and finger-pointing: once again, it turns out women are to blame for pretty much everything. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest is an earnest attempt to make a serious film. But in the end the movie backs away from both the human reality and the cloudy but potent symbolism that Ken Kesey found in the asylum. Read full review
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