True Romance

Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: September 10, 1993

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

59	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

EmpireClark Collis

One of the best mainstream action-thrillers [in] a decade. Read full review

100

Mick LaSalle

Anybody who talks about True Romance has to start with the writing. It's dazzling. In scene after scene, Tarantino surprises the audience even while coming up with dialogue that rings much more true than anything you could have anticipated. [10 Sept 1993]

100

Susan Wloszczyna

These gun-crazy, lust-loopy kids on the run are irresistible in the best crime rush since “GoodFellas.” [10 Sept 1993]

Dominick Suzanne-Mayer

True Romance is for the most part a delightful relic of its era. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

You never forget you're watching a derivative, machine-tooled entertainment; the fun is in how the machine keeps spinning off course. Read full review

Janet Maslin

A vibrant, grisly, gleefully amoral road movie. Read full review

Brad Laidman

Tony Scott steers the movie like a rocket and it never slows down. Read full review

Peter Travers

The blistering confrontation scene between Hopper and Walken -- both in peak form -- will be talked about for years. It's pure Tarantino: a full-throttle blast of bloody action and verbal fireworks. Read full review

Roger Ebert

True Romance, which feels at times like a fire sale down at the cliche factory, is made with such energy, such high spirits, such an enchanting goofiness, that it's impossible to resist. Check your brains at the door. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Blends and recycles elements of scores of crime and road movies, from "Bonnie and Clyde" to "Badlands" but it does so with enough energy and verve to create something entirely fresh and infectiously entertaining. Read full review

Marc Savlov

Consistently entertaining. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Despite Tony Scott's occasional blundering, True Romance is still a visceral roller coaster. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

As usual, Tarantino's sense of fun is infectious but fairly heartless. Read full review

Leonard Klady

It doesn't add up to enough, as preposterous plotting and graphic violence ultimately prove an audience turnoff. Read full review

Noel Murray

The Tony Scott version of Tarantino comes out vulgar; the graphic violence and profanity-laced posturing represent everything that the wannabes soon used to exhaust audiences. Nevertheless, True Romance contains so many unforgettable moments. Read full review

Desson Thomson

Amid the violence, the one-liners ring out. Nobody speaks for real. It's as if they all know they're in a movie. Read full review

Richard Harrington

Despite its noir references and evocations, this slick film, directed by Tony Scott from Quentin Tarantino's script, is a preposterously bloody mess, as is the plot. Read full review

Gene Siskel

A stupid, stylized road picture. [10 Sept 1993]

Kenneth Turan

It is hard to say what is more dispiriting about True Romance the movie itself or the fact that someone somewhere is sure to applaud its hollow, dime-store nihilism and smug pseudo-hip posturing as a bright new day in American cinema. [10 Sept 1993]