The Bridges of Madison County
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 2, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneGene Siskel
Streep is an actress known for her uncanny ability with accents, but her quiet performance in "Bridges" proves that she would have made a world-class silent-film star, too. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
To say that Eastwood, who directed, has done a first-rate job of adaptation fails to do him justice. What he's brought off is closer to alchemy. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It is easy to analyze the mechanism, but more difficult to explain why this film is so deeply moving. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A beautiful film, not only in the way it was photographed, but for the manner through which the characters are revealed to us. Read full review
80
The DissolveNoel Murray
The strength of Eastwood’s Bridges is in its patience, and how it lets the love story develop from start to finish, even though the audience knows from the beginning the broad strokes of what’s going to happen. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Limited by the vapidity of this material while he trims its excesses with the requisite machete, Mr. Eastwood locates a moving, elegiac love story at the heart of Mr. Waller's self-congratulatory overkill. Read full review
80
EmpireAngie Errigo
Streep and Eastwood's chemistry makes the film. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Bridges is another example of Eastwood's remarkable economy of style as both a director and an actor. It is neither his best work nor his worst, though it is a fascinating exploration. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Clint Eastwood transcends the story's cliches with a classically restrained yet steadily imaginative filmmaking style. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (not credited)
Robert Waller's inexplicably colossal bestseller is transferred to the screen with more art than it deserves, but neither old-fashioned Hollywood craftsmanship nor the massive star power of Eastwood and Streep can compensate for the story's intellectual slightness and emotional implausibility. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Given the intelligent restraint of the treatment, this is about as fine an adaptation of this material as one could hope for, although there is still something of a gap between the impressive skill of the filmmaking and the ultimately irredeemable aspects of the source. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The reason for the film's success is simple. Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and director Eastwood skirt most of novelist Robert James Waller's excesses. Read full review
70
NewsweekJack Kroll
What Eastwood and Streep have done is to bring a semblance of emotional reality to the story. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and director Clint Eastwood have turned out something sombre and restrained -- almost, in fact, good (though it's too long). Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
Through the actress's effort and her director's generosity, this book about an irresistible man becomes a movie about a remarkable woman. Madison County is Eastwood's gift to women. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Richard LaGravenese's flashback script craftily tones down Waller's wind, adds a germane subplot and strengthens the novella's framing device. [02 Jun 1995, p.D1]
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The film version, competently directed by Clint Eastwood and beautifully acted by Meryl Streep, isn't about to mess with a popular formula - this is a straight-up adaptation as faithful as a fawning spouse. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
While this adaptation of Waller's treacly bodice-ripper leaves out a lot of the lurid excess, it is not altogether free of pomposity. Read full review
50
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Eastwood, who directed the picture adequately, is inadequate in this role. He has done a lot of impressive acting in films, but none of it has been sexually romantic, and the age of 64 was not the right time to take up that line of work. [03Jul1995, Pg. 26]
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
LaGravenese... has understood that the worst of Bridges is not in its dialogue but in the silent musings that occupy its characters' minds. By keeping those thoughts unspoken, by allowing the camera to show instead of having words tell, much has been accomplished. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Even those who despised the original novel should not have trouble stomaching Bridges, while the novel's fans will find the film -- despite some additions -- generally true to what they perceive to be the book's spirit. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
Director Eastwood favors naturalism and sometimes the effort to reproduce what it is like to meet someone new bogs the picture down irreparably. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Clint Eastwood resurrects the star system, the Hollywood love story, and middle-aged romance, but despite all his craft and sincerity, he and screenwriter Richard LaGravenese can't quite turn Robert James Waller's cardboard best-seller into flesh and bone. Read full review
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