Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. 100
    This is a wonderful film. There isn't a thing that I would change.
  2. Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    100
    It rates a resounding yes because it doesn't insult our emotional intelligence. [23 Nov 1983]
  3. Terms of Endearment is the rare commercial picture that sets audiences to laughing hysterically and crying unashamedly, sometimes within consecutive seconds, and then shoos them out of the theatre in contented emotional exhaustion. [23 Nov 1983]
  4. Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    100
    No film since Preston Sturges was a pup has so shrewdly appreciated the way the eccentric plays hide-and-seek with the respectable in the ordinary American landscape; no comedy since Annie Hall or Manhattan has so intelligently observed not just the way people live now but what's going on in the back of their minds; and finally, and in full knowledge that one may be doing the marketing department's job for them, it is the best movie of the year.
  5. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    88
    Lopsided comedy turned tearjerker, saved by excellent performances.
  6. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    80
    James L. Brooks's clever and witty cry-a-long which has as many guys pretending not to cry, as women unashamedly sobbing.
  7. Terms of Endearment is a funny, touching, beautifully acted film that covers more territory than it can easily manage.
  8. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    80
    Teaming of Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson at their best makes Terms of Endearment an enormously enjoyable offering for Christmas, adding bite and sparkle when sentiment and seamlessness threatens to sink other parts of the picture.
  9. There's not enough substance to support the sentiment of this longish comedy-drama.
  10. 40
    The dual-track plot, with constant cutting between mother and daughter, seems less an attempt to establish meaningful parallels between the two stories than the nervous twitches of a compulsive channel changer.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Bottom Line: Fairly decent, but don’t let yourself be deceived by the Best Picture Oscar. Soap opera saga of a feature film is like baking honey into a pie: it’s deliciously sweet, but it’s not what we’re at all used to. When I turned on TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, I was full-out ready to hate it. But by the end, my decision was that I had enjoyed it well enough, but it did NOT deserve a Best Picture Oscar. Lots of this was funny, and some of it, tear-sucking. (There are many better romance/comedy/drama hybrids out there, to say the least.) Jack Nicholson’s role stands high above those of all other cast members in this film. When he is first introduced, we are reminded of his “…bash your brains in!” scene from THE SHINING; but then we figure out he is playing Jekyll & Hyde on us: he is a lovable human being, and just as much as everyone else in the film. In my humble opinion, this winning the Best Picture Oscar was up there on the disappointments lists, somewhere around when THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE COLOR PURPLE did not win Best Picture. Sure, it’s decent, but it’s certainly not the expected material. Don’t be deceived by how overrated TERMS OF ENDEARMENT is. Full Review »