Pride & Prejudice
Focus Features | Release Date: November 11, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
89
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
This fresh adaptation shakes the dust off Jane Austen's early 19th-century novel of manners and gives it a good airing out. The result is a witty and lovesick skirmish of the sexes that exceeds all expectations. Read full review
67
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Director Joe Wright's new movie version of Pride and Prejudice is more Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire: more earthy and athletic than balletic. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Jane Austen's novel has been rejiggered into a jaunty romantic comedy that leaves us as incandescently happy as its characters. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Handsome and competently acted and prettily shot and all the other things critics say when what they really want to scream is "Aaaaaaaargh! No more Jane Austen adaptations, ESPECIALLY not Pride and Prejudice. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The movie flames to life whenever Donald Sutherland moves into frame as the young ladies' relaxed, humorous, and magnificently rueful father. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is well cast from top to bottom; like many British films, it benefits from the genius of its supporting players. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
At the end, director Wright wraps the whole thing up with a fairy-tale coda more Shakespearean than Austen-tine. Yet it all works. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
In the end, the finest achievement of Wright's movie is that it fully captures what Martin Amis, writing on Pride and Prejudice, said of Austen: "Money is a vital substance in her world; the moment you enter it you feel the frank horror of moneylessness, as intense as the tacit horror of spinsterhood." All that, and a great love story, too. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
There's something more REAL about this version, more human, more lived-in; though their words may have been penned 200 years ago, when Austen was a young woman writing about her idealized self, this cast and crew nudge the material into the now. Read full review
80
EmpireAngie Errigo
Not as divine as Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility," but engagingly comparable to the Gwyneth Paltrow-starring Emma and vastly superior to Mansfield Park. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Keira Knightley, in a witty, vibrant, altogether superb performance, plays Lizzie's sparky, questing nature as a matter of the deepest personal sacrifice. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
With outstanding performances, including a turn by Judi Dench as the evil Lady Catherine de Bourg, Pride & Prejudice is a joy from start to finish. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
This Pride & Prejudice isn't minutely faithful to the book -- and for good reason -- but it is authentic where it counts: to the confused, wounded, eager hearts of its lovers. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Seeing the splendid new version of Pride & Prejudice can be hazardous to your health: There's a very real danger of swooning. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
If only Knightley had a co-star equal to her here: The 1995 edition of Colin Firth, come to think of it, would have been perfect. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
This weekend, forget "Jarhead" - two hours of guys playing grab-ass in the shower and no chicks. If you're lucky, you can con your girlfriend into seeing Pride & Prejudice. Read full review
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Indoors, it's Jane Austen. Outdoors, this red-blooded, exuberantly romantic version of Pride and Prejudice plays more like Emily Brontë. Purists may object, but most will find this love story irresistible. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Whatever number it is chronologically on the P&P parade, Wright's film ranks first in verve. Quite simply, it is the essential P&P. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The problem here is we never get much more than the pretty, the quaint and the comfortingly familiar. There's a place for such stuff in the world, yes, but that doesn't make it art. Read full review
50
PremiereGlenn Kenny
The moviemakers are accomplished enough to make something coherent out of this tonal mishmash, but I was left with a "was this trip really necessary" feeling for all that. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Of Austen's novels, none is more beloved than this one, so it's good to see it once again brought to the screen with the pride which it deserves. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Romantic yearning hasn't looked this sexy onscreen in years. Read full review
100
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Blissful, blazingly intelligent adaptation. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Deliriously charming. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerDebera Carlton Harrell
It is historically evocative, visually transporting and an exuberant romantic comedy that adheres to its source while spinning its own artful energy. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
This Pride & Prejudice (ampersand and all) a joy to behold. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Most importantly, the director, script, and cast (rounded out by Judi Dench and well-placed imports Donald Sutherland and Jena Malone) all recognize that Austen is about much more than pretty costumes and knowing looks. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
This is Austen as chick-lit, not too deep, but with some integrity and the worthy goal of reaching a younger audience by offering a starch-free version of the story. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
Turns Jane Austen's nimble satire into a lumbering gothic romance. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The present film-makers have retained the essences of the plot and characters but have moved the ambience toward the next stylistic era, romanticism. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Gathers you up on its white horse and gallops off into the sunset. Along the way, it serves a continuing banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes. Read full review
100
The TimesKevin Maher
The director Joe Wright’s roaming camera gives every exchange an unexpected urgency.
100
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The appealing Knightley goes in a promising young actress and comes out a star, but the faultless cast of veterans and fresh-faced newcomers imbues every character with flawed and immensely appealing humanity. Read full review
100
USA TodayClaudia Puig
This Pride & Prejudice is a stellar adaptation, bewitching the viewer completely and incandescently with an exquisite blend of emotion and wit. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
A movie for the age, and a keeper for the ages, Pride & Prejudice brings Jane Austen's best-loved novel to vivid, widescreen life, as well as making an undisputed star of 20-year-old Keira Knightley. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Director Joe Wright coordinates a delightfully cohesive acting ensemble. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Still, the cynosure of all eyes is honest, articulate Elizabeth, her own woman in an era when women belonged to men, and at the same time full of love. Lizzie is the best, and Keira Knightley does right by her.
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Lord God, can she take control of a scene, dominate a movie, project to the last seat, radiate power and personality unto the rafters. It's a great performance. I love the way Knightley's eyes light with furious intelligence when she cuts the pompous Darcy a new something or other. Read full review
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