Metascore
70 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Negative: 2 out of 19
  1. 100
    One of those rare films that communicates the exquisite joy of the moviemaking process. [7 October 1994, Friday, p.B]
  2. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    100
    Half-factual, half-fanciful and all funny, this labor of love is also unexpectedly touching. [28 September 1994, Life, p.5D]
  3. A comedy of the ridiculous in which the ridiculous turns unexpectedly sublime.
  4. Reviewed by: John Hartl
    90
    In his finest, funniest, most poignant film to date, Tim Burton plays cinematic alchemist, turning drive-in schlock into movie gold.
  5. 88
    What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of 1950s exploitation films - in which a great title, a has-been star and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made.
  6. Turns out to be a thoroughly entertaining if eccentric piece of business, wacky and amusing in a cheerfully preposterous way. [28 September 1994, Calendar, p.F-1]
  7. Reviewed by: Hal Hinson
    80
    Making a movie about the life of Ed Wood certainly qualifies as an impossible dream, but Burton has pulled it off with wit, imagination and something amazingly close to grace.
  8. 78
    The strangest biographical film ever made is also one of the most charming, melancholy and quirkily humorous films of the year.
  9. Burton has trouble sustaining the briskness of the first half. But the brilliance of many individual scenes, and the extraordinary performance by Landau, are more than enough to justify this goofy, tender ode to eccentricity. [7 October 1994, Daily Notebook, p.C1]
  10. Reviewed by: Frank Lovece
    70
    Delightful, off-the-wall, and ultimately moving.
  11. Reviewed by: Lucy Mohl
    70
    What we remember are the visions of genius and the total turkeys. Rarely do you get both in the same movie, but director Tim Burton pulls it off in this oddly affectionate bio-pic of Ed Wood.
  12. If Ed Wood has a major failing, it's the lack of momentum. Wood's career had nowhere to go, and to some extent the film has the same problem. [23 September 1994, p.C34]
  13. Reviewed by: Staff [not credited]
    70
    Always engaging to watch and often dazzling in its imagination and technique, picture is also a bit distended, and lacking in weight at its center.
  14. 63
    The most interesting personality in Ed Wood is not the title character, but Bela Lugosi. So covered up with makeup that he's barely recognizable, Martin Landau gives a deeply-felt performance -- a eerie and stunning recreation of a man haunted by lost fame.
  15. Burton has evoked the surface of Ed Wood's life, but in a story about a man who loves angora and frilly panties, he has barely unbuttoned Wood's uniform.
  16. If, like the filmmakers, you're willing to settle for a myth that flatters your sensibilities and shortchanges the past, you're likely to find some agreeable kicks here.
  17. 50
    Fails to go into the one realm that would make it worthwhile, which is Ed Wood's brain.
  18. A cinematic homage as flawed as its subject. Flawed, yet with a peculiar fascination of its own -- what we have is a genuine artist paying sincere tribute to an unapologetic mediocrity, and stooping awkwardly to the task.
  19. Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    20
    This Ed Wood is dead wood.

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User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 37 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. This has to be one of Tim Burton's best. This whole film was very well produced. Tim Burton's dark humor keeps me laughing and a little disturbed at times. Getting to the actual review, this is a biopic about a real life film director that has been named the worst director in cinematic history. His name is Ed Wood.(that's why they called the film Ed Wood). Although this was filmed in 1994 it's in black and white. But the color isn't what makes a film good and anyone that saids otherwise needs help. This film features a much younger Johnny Depp so I would recommend this to mostly females. The acting was very good. The writing was also good especially the one liners. There where so many funny one liners that if you talked you missed them. Although being a comedy this film is also quite serious. Especially the relationship between Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi. Towards the end it was very touching and depressing. If you like this movie then you might also want to check out Ed Wood movies like Plan 9 from Outer Space and The Bride of the Monster. Full Review »
  2. Tim Burton's best film, without the slightest hint of doubt. Every performance, every joke, every set; just about everything in this movie was perfect. It's so good, that I consider it one of my personal favorites. Full Review »
  3. Johnny Depp shines in his role as the infamous quirky film director trying to hit it big with grade-Z movies. As absurd as it is brilliant, this definitely ranks as one of Tim Burton's finer films. Full Review »