The Crying Game

Miramax Films | Release Date: November 25, 1992

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

90	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 22 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Peter Travers

Rea and Davidson are incomparably good in an exceptional film that is by turns darkly funny and deeply affecting. Though Jordan's control sometimes falters, it's a small price to pay for his daring. Read full review

100

Roger Ebert

One of a very few films that wants to do something unexpected and challenging, and succeeds even beyond its ambitions. See this film. Then shut up about it. Read full review

100

Owen Gleiberman

By the time The Crying Game is over, you'll never look at beauty in quite the same way. Read full review

100

Kenneth Turan

This offbeat emotional thriller is an unusually satisfying film, intricately constructed, surely directed and splendidly acted. [25 Nov 1992]

100

Vincent Canby

Mr. Jordan's screenplay... is both efficient and ingenious. The physical production is as lush as the film's romantic longings. [26 Sept 1992] Read full review

100

Hal Hinson

From the performances by Rea, Davidson and Whitaker, to Jordan's endlessly original script, to Anne Dudley's melancholy score, and Lyle Lovett's closing rendition of "Stand by Your Man," The Crying Game enthralls and amazes us. It deserves to be called great. Read full review

100

Rick Groen

Simultaneously a tough, haunting, lyrical, hopeful film, and the tears it wants us to shed are an alloy of sorrow and joy - cleansing tears, the kind that alter the rules and dignify the game. Read full review

100

Richard Corliss

In a style of agitated naturalism, Jordan examines poignant matters of life and death, sex and friendship, duty and loyalty, freedom and bondage, manhood and womanhood and all the ambiguous areas in between. [30 Nov 1992]

100

Todd McCarthy

An astonishingly good and daring film that richly develops several intertwined thematic lines, The Crying Game takes giant risks that are stunningly rewarded. Read full review

100

Terrence Rafferty

Has the sure grip and the unstoppable momentum of a dream – which are qualities, too of great fairly tales and the most memorable pop songs. [16 Nov 1992, p.127]

Desson Thomson

An intriguing yarn. Read full review

Julie Salamon

Persistently upends expectations without insult, as it pulls you into a netherworld filled with yearning, whimsy, and danger. [15 Dec 1992, p.A16(E)]

Marjorie Baumgarten

One of the best movies I've seen this year and, consequently, the less said about it here the better. The beauty of this movie is in the way it twists and turns, thwarting expectations, confounding stereotypes and venturing into places you least anticipate. Read full review

Clifford Terry

A crackling good movie. [18 Dec 1992]

Mike Clark

This grade-A sleeper sends you out with an unexpected smile. [25 Nov 1992]

James Berardinelli

As is often the case with European films, the acting is superlative...The real standout, however, is newcomer Jaye Davidson, whose performance is, without exaggeration, stunning...Not to be missed. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

An adroit piece of storytelling from Irish writer-director Neil Jordan that's ultimately less challenging to conventional notions about race and sexuality than it may at first seem... The three leads are first-rate. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Thematic issues aside, The Crying Game pulls off a tremendously difficult technical feat; its screenplay contains not one, but two, wrenching twists, each of which could easily derail the narrative in the hands of a lesser storyteller. Read full review

EmpireAlan Morrison

A finely-acted, sensitively-written tale. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

It's a movie filled with surprises, including one outright kick in the head that qualifies as one of the biggest movie moments of 1992. [18 Dec 1992]

David Sterritt

Parts of the film are flatly directed...It certainly keeps the audience guessing, though, and few movies explode so many stereotypes. [31 Dec 1992]

Stanley Kauffmann

Jordan would like us to believe that the three films are stages in a metamorphosis, but the stitching shows… Part Two, explored and expanded, might have made a good film, especially since Davidson gives a quiet, knowledgeable, perfectly poised performance. [14 Dec 1992]