The Horse Whisperer
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: May 15, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The A.V. ClubJoshua Klein
With solid, stately acting, and landscapes that could convert atheists, The Horse Whisperer tugs heartstrings without seeming self-conscious. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Mr. Redford has found his own visually eloquent way to turn the potboiler into a panorama, with a deep-seated love for the Montana landscape against which his rapturously beautiful film unfolds. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A film as rich in its visual presentation as it is in its emotional resonance. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Directing himself for the first time, Redford has lavished his usual meticulous care on popular material that comes alive on the screen in ways that it never could on the page. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
A handsome and effective-if over-long-tear-jerker about thwarted love between grown-ups who should know better. Read full review
80
Washington PostRita Kempley
The movie is not only a better version of the book, it's a work unto itself. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
A countrified, monolithic thing of beauty -- gorgeous to behold despite the fact that its overlong two-hour-and-45-minute running time plays off Redford's weather-beaten golden boy good looks far too often for its own good. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
All the nuggets of spoken wisdom rattle around with a tad too much space and (at 2 1/2 hours plus) too much length. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Robert Redford has shown that he has a real feeling for the West--he's not a movie tourist--and there is a magnificence in his treatment here that dignifies what is essentially a soap opera. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Robert Redford, who for the first time stars in a movie he's also directed, has taken this soap opera material and treated it like something inscribed on yak vellum by the Dalai Lama. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
There are times when this leisurely movie seems so much in love with its own virtue and nobility that there's not much room left for the spectator. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Curl your cynical lip if you want, but there's a place for heartwarming, life-affirming, even weepy dramas, and Robert Redford brings the best-selling novel about a traumatized teen and her wounded horse to the screen with dignity and restraint. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The sticking point of the movie is its exorbitant length: two and three-quarter hours does seem like an awful long time to patch up a horse, and a movie that goes straight for your heart should not be allowed to fester. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
It says something about this movie that Redford is at his most compelling playing opposite a nag. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
The film finally seems to stagger under the weight of its own significance. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
It's nothing more than a very long movie about someone, literally and metaphorically, having to get back up on a horse. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Redford's storytelling skills aren't strong enough to make the tale appear as seamless as it should. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The Horse Whisperer is just the latest example of tab-A-into-slot-B moviemaking to come out of Hollywood, a weeper that's built according to a solid set of rules. Read full review
30
NewsweekJeff Giles
It's punishingly dull for fully half of its two hours and 45 minutes. Read full review
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