Vanity Fair
Focus Features | Release Date: September 1, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
22
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The peculiar quality of Vanity Fair, which sets it aside from the Austen adaptations such as "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice," is that it's not about very nice people. That makes them much more interesting. Read full review
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Witherspoon's simply terrific, and it's amazing how quickly and easily she sheds speculation that she was too modern for the role. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A triumph for its director and its star. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Graced with Nair's loving direction, Witherspoon's radiance and that great cast, it is a treat, if somewhat less so than the novel. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Witherspoon is terrific. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Nair and screenwriters Matthew Faulk, Mark Skeet and Julian Fellowes have faithfully carried most of the main characters over from the novel but have changed its point of view. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Yet something's missing in director Mira Nair's treatment -- specifically, a point of view about the material, a compelling reason for this historical excavation beyond the fact that Reese Witherspoon makes a convincing Becky Sharp. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Despite its flaws, the movie is compulsively watchable, and few will be bored by it. It's a charming movie that falls short of greatness, but is still worth a solid recommendation. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianKaren Karbo
Nair, against all odds, has injected new life into this oft-filmed tale, handily re-creating the grimy look of early 19th-century London streets. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The spirit of that most modern of 19th century heroines, Becky Sharp, remains intact, and Nair's Indian touches make for an intriguing, fresh approach. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
It almost makes you wonder whether Vanity Fair is not the perfect text for a lesson in Buddhist detachment. Certainly, Vanity Fair is a never-ending Western story that benefits from Nair's philosophically Eastern point of view. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverMelissa Levine
While the film bubbles with humor, sensual detail and heaps of plot, it never quite becomes more than the sum of its parts. It's well worth seeing, but it isn't transcendent. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Smart, saucy, and ingenious in the extreme. The trouble is that when a subtext is dragged to the fore, however splendidly, the poor old text gets lost. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
It borders on perky -- a duller, safer tonal choice for the story of a conniving go-getter whose fall is as precipitous as her rise. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The movie crams in so many of the events and characters of Thack­eray's 900-page novel that the story often seems to be moving on fast-forward, pausing here and there to introduce a character, then skipping ahead — from London to the country to Brussels and on, eventually, to India. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Nair makes Vanity Fair an elegant showcase for an unforgettable heroine. Read full review
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