Critic Reviews
| 90 |
Variety
Staff (Not Credited)
Aided greatly by an expert film adaptation by its playwright, Willy Russell, Gilbert has come up with an irresistible story about a lively, lower-class British woman hungering for an education and the rather, staid, degenerating English professor who reluctantly provides her with one.
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| 80 |
Empire
Ian Nathan
Lewis Gilbert, and two career best performances from his leading actors, give this film such energy it leaves the pleasant aroma of life and possibility.
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| 75 |
TV Guide
Staff (Not Credited)
This is a poignant if predictable take on the English class system, buoyed by an effervescent performance from Walters.
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| 63 |
Christian Science Monitor
The plot is ''Pygmalion'' warmed over, but Michael Caine and Julie Walters give sparkling performances, and director Lewis Gilbert keeps the action humming along.
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| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
The achievement of Educating Rita is a function of the distinguished performances, the agreeably archetypal situation and the scissor-sharp lines. [23 Sep 1983]
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| 60 |
Chicago Reader
The film doesn't transcend its genre, but it's an honorable achievement within it.
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| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Educating Rita, which might have been a charming human comedy, disintegrated into a forced march through a formula relationship.
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| 30 |
The New York Times
The essentially two-character play has been opened up to the point that it includes a variety of settings and subordinate figures, but it never approaches anything lifelike.
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| 25 |
Boston Globe
Michael Blowen
If you were ever curious how a bad director can destroy the work of two talented actors and a slight, but funny, script, you need look no further than Educating Rita. [28 Oct 1983]
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