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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Blue Velvet
DeLaurentis Entertainment Group


7.4

based on 14 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 52 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, and Dean Stockwell

Set in a small American town, Blue Velvet is a dark, sensuous mystery involving the intertwining lives of four very different individuals. The film's painful realism reminds us that we are not immune to the disturbing events which transpire in Blue Velvet's sleepy community. There is a darker side of life waiting for us all. (De Laurentiis Entertainment Group Inc.)

GENRE(S):	Mystery
WRITTEN BY:	David Lynch
DIRECTED BY:	David Lynch
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 25, 2000 Video: April 14, 1998 Theatrical: September 19, 1986
RUNNING TIME:	120 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

As fascinating as it is freakish. It confirms Mr. Lynch's stature as an innovator, a superb technician, and someone best not encountered in a dak alley. [19 September 1986]

100

Los Angeles Times Sheila Benson

The most brilliantly disturbing film ever to have its roots in small-town American life. [19 September 1986, Calendar, p.6-1]

100

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Blue Velvet is David Lynch in peak form, and represents (to date) his most accomplished motion picture. It is a work of fascinating scope and power that rivals any of the most subversive films to reach the screens during the '80s.

100

Village Voice Guy Maddin

The last real earthquake to hit cinema was David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" -- I'm sure directors throughout the film world felt the earth move beneath their feet and couldn't sleep the night of their first encounter with it back in 1986. (Review of 20th Anniversary Re-Release)

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

What dazzles still about David Lynch's Blue Velvet is its total authority: Not a single false gesture. No shock delivered solely for its own sake.

Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel

One powerful, mesmerizing thriller, a masterful exercise in controlling an audience's attention. [19 September 1986, Friday, p.A]

Variety Staff (Not credited)

Hopper creates a flabbergasting portrait of unrepentent, irredeemable evil.

Film.com John Hartl

An exhilarating piece of popular entertainment.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

You either think it's dementedly wild at heart or a lost highway to nowhere.

Time Richard Corliss

Lynch and his film will surely be reviled, but as an experiment in expanding cinema's dramatic and technical vocabulary, Blue Velvet demands respect. [Sept. 22, 1986]

Chicago Reader Pat Graham

It's mostly fascinating, though the unconverted may be in for a rough two hours.

San Francisco Chronicle Gerald Nachman

Dark, menacing and sexual, with satanic overtones, like a Black Sabbath song, with many moments of genuine fright and harsh eroticism. [19 September 1986, Daily Notebook, p.76]

Washington Post Paul Attanasio

Doesn't progress or deepen, it just gets weirder, and to no good end.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

So strong, so shocking and yet so audacious that people walk out shaking their heads; they don't know quite what to make of it.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 52 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rick M. gave it a10:
Excellent, well-constructed movie. People who say this film lacks depth are completely wrong. There is so much symbolism in this film its almost exhausting.

Daniel R. gave it a10:
David Lynch's magnum opus, a masterpiece not to be missed!

Jason M gave it a10:
One of the few American films to make a difference in the medium, and one of the greatest. Its an undeniably brilliant movie.

Kate G. gave it a9:
Brilliant movie, and extremely well-done by one of the greatest directors in America. We are lured into this false sense of security, and then eventually presented with dark, depraved and extremely disturbing underworld.

Michael P. gave it a9:
Dark, menacing, sexual, beautiful, and hauntingly dreamlike. David Lynch, your a genius!

Kate O gave it a6:
Bizarre movie...would've been more enjoyable if the sex and violence wasn't as pretentious as it seemed. Dennis Hopper was great, though.

Luke J gave it a10:
A beautiful film, never seen anything like it in the history of cinema...and I don't think I ever will again. 10/10.

Blue Velvet DeLaurentis Entertainment Group

Blue Velvet
DeLaurentis Entertainment Group