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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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My Own Private Idaho
Fine Line Features
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R
Starring
River Phoenix,
Keanu Reeves,
James Russo,
William Richert,
Rodney Harvey,
Chiara Caselli,
Michael Parker,
and
Jessie Thomas
In this loose reworking of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Reeves stars as the prodigal son who slums in the Pacific Northwest's junkie lowlife milieu with Phoenix, who plays a narcaleptic hustler.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Gus Van Sant
William Shakespeare (play Henry IV)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Gus Van Sant
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 1, 2005
Video: July 16, 1996
Theatrical: October 18, 1991
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
102 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
Vincent Canby
The film itself is invigorating - written, directed, and acted with enormous insight and comic elan. [27 Sept 1991]
100
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
It gets you below the emotional belt in a searing, delicate way. No movie this year approaches such magnificent imagery, such delectable poetry.
100
Chicago Tribune
Dave Kehr
Beautifully wrought, darkly funny and finally devastating, My Own Private Idaho almost single-handedly revives the notion of personal filmmaking in the United States. [18 Oct 1991]
90
Washington Post
Hal Hinson
Van Sant's sensibility is wholly original, wholly fresh. "My Own Private Idaho" adds a new ingredient: a kind of boho sweetness. I loved it.
90
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The style is so eclectic that it may take some getting used to, but Van Sant, working from his own story for the first time, brings such lyrical focus to his characters and his poetry that almost everything works.
90
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Before this trippy, mesmerizing movie swerves out of control, it delivers an exhilarating and challenging ride.
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Jay Scott
My Own Private Idaho achieves more than most movies dream of attempting. The Shakespearian allusions aside, Van Sant has essentially remade "Of Mice and Men" for the nineties, with Mike as the "mouse," Scott as the "man." It is the mouse who roars.
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
There is no mechanical plot that has to grind to a Hollywood conclusion, and no contrived test for the heroes to pass; this is a movie about two particular young men, and how they pass their lives.
80
TV Guide
Staff (Not Credited)
Van Sant casts a gently hypnotic spell that is not easily forgotten.
78
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
It's a daredevil's ride that keeps you glued with fascination.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Lawrence O'Toole
But Van Sant, whose vision is otherwise sharp, pushes the connection to Shakespeare's Henry IV too far, having Reeves at one point declaim in rhyming couplets, which severely tests even the most forgiving viewer.
70
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
No matter what you've been used to, Idaho is something completely different, a film that manages to confound all expectations, even the ones it sets up itself. [18 Oct 1991]
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
Truth is, Idaho is nothing but set pieces; tossed into a mix whose meaning is almost certainly private. [27 Sept 1991]
60
Empire
Philip Thomas
With a more accomplished script and an actor of rather more technical prowess than Reeves (nabbing the Prince Hal role), this may just have worked. Here, it is just squirmingly embarrassing stuff.
50
The New Yorker
Terrence Rafferty
It's a beautiful disaster, like a bomb test out in the middle of nowhere. [7 Oct 1991, p.100]
50
Wall Street Journal
Julie Salamon
This is all very strange and a little tedious. Yet there is something arresting and oddly poignant in Mr. Van Sant's playful vision of the road to nowhere. [3 Oct 1991, p.A14(E)]
50
Variety
Staff (Not Credited)
The Shakespearean side of the story falls short due to Reeves' very narrow range as an actor.
50
Time
Richard Schickel
What plot it has is borrowed, improbably, from Henry IV, and whenever anyone manages to speak an entire paragraph, it is usually a Shakespearean paraphrase. But this is a desperate imposition on an essentially inert film. [28 Oct 1991]
 The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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