Heathers

Name: Heathers
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Released: March 31, 1989
Duration: 103 min
Rating: 72
Cast: Christian Slater, Winona Ryder

1989

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 126 Ratings

See All

4.8

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4.8	Your Score
4.8	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 126 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Heathers

Now Playing: Heathers

Movie Details & Credits

New World Pictures | Release Date: March 31, 1989 | R

Starring: Christian Slater, Winona Ryder

Summary: A razor sharp black comedy about high school politics centers on Veronica Sawyer (Ryder) who joins an exclusive clique of popular girls named Heather (Walker, Doherty, Falk) and plays along with her new boyfriend J.D. (Slater) in a series of pranks which turn into a series of murders made to look like suicides.

Director: Michael Lehmann

Genre(s): Comedy, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 103 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Rita Kempley

More than just one of the best movies so far this year, it is a revolution in young-adult entertainment. Read full review

100

Desson Thomson

Wickedly funny. In fact, Heathers may be the nastiest, cruelest fun you can have without actually having to study law or gird leather products. If movies were food, Heathers would be a cynic's chocolate binge. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Daniel Waters' enormously clever screenplay blazes a trail of originality through the dead wood of the teen-comedy genre. Read full review

Dave Kehr

The sheer outrageousness of its attitude is enough to make Heathers a very welcome relief in a field dominated by sanctimonious and second-hand virtue. [31 March 1989]

Staff (Not Credited)

Dark, cynical, but deliciously funny, Heathers is a fascinating look not just at high school but at the way we look at high school. Read full review

Roger Ebert

What sets Heathers apart from less intelligent teenage movies is that it has a point of view toward this subject matter - a bleak, macabre and bitingly satirical one. Read full review

Sheila Benson

Unfortunately, director Michael Lehmann's point of view is swivel-mounted: He doesn't have the courage of his cynicism. [31 Mar 1989]

SEE ALL 20 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Psychopompadour

Apr 13, 2017

What a period piece, really had that 80s feel and I'm loving Wynona and Christian! Teenage Suicide...Don't Do It! Don't know about you people with the low scores, but I sure had fun.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

RobertOBrien

Jul 3, 2015

Heathers is a very strong film, with strong performances from Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Kim Walker and Shannen Doherty. The plot is off beat and unconventional, and I recommend anyone who is sensitive to offensive humor, sexual innuendo, and profanity to not watch this movie.

ThisHeathers is a very strong film, with strong performances from Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Kim Walker and Shannen Doherty. The plot is off beat and unconventional, and I recommend anyone who is sensitive to offensive humor, sexual innuendo, and profanity to not watch this movie.

This film's social commentary is what I find to be the strongest element of the film. It's clever satire about the media's reaction to youth suicide is hilarious and thought-provoking, and the way the movie also satirizes the idea of angsty teenagers and how "tortured" they are by society is also funny..

Though, like I said, if you're someone who is sensitive, I would say you would've found this movie more watchable before the Columbine Massacre happened.

The movie's Kubrick esque cinematography, social commentary, snarky and cynical attitude certainly makes this one of the more interesting teen films of the 1980s. I only recommend to those who are not bothered by profane, offensive things, and can find themselves lost in the movie's strange characters, strange plot, and high-brow satirical nature.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

j30

Nov 11, 2011

Here's an 80's gem that's very entertaining and has some great quotes. It 's almost a guilty pleasure of mine that's hard to ignore. I can't really recommend this to anyone that is easily offended.

4 of 4 users found this helpful40

drlowdon

Aug 1, 2014

At first Heathers appears to be yet another high school comedy featuring the usual clichés, albeit one that was actually released before the myriad of Mean Girls copycats. Pretty soon however events transpire to make it a much darker affair as the plot is taken in a rather unexpectedAt first Heathers appears to be yet another high school comedy featuring the usual clichés, albeit one that was actually released before the myriad of Mean Girls copycats. Pretty soon however events transpire to make it a much darker affair as the plot is taken in a rather unexpected direction.

The biggest issue for me with Heathers is that it doesn’t quite seem sure whether it wants to be a dark comedy or something more serious, and these frequent tonal shifts can be quite jarring as you are never quite sure when you are supposed to be laughing. With a strong lead performance from a young Winona Ryder however the movie remains entertaining throughout featuring enough twists and turns to keep most people guessing as to what will happen next.

It’s far from perfect but this is an 80’s movie worth watching.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

amheretojudge

May 26, 2019

Ryder and Slater are unbeatable, literally, and yet only Lehmann comes out alive from this "walk in the woods".

Heathers Lehmann is clearly taking risks. No matter how lightly he may take things, the levity doesn't save him from bombing vigorously. But then, it is neither the warmth norRyder and Slater are unbeatable, literally, and yet only Lehmann comes out alive from this "walk in the woods".

Heathers

Lehmann is clearly taking risks. No matter how lightly he may take things, the levity doesn't save him from bombing vigorously. But then, it is neither the warmth nor the drama it every now and then dips into the pool of. So, what is so magnetic about, the director, Michael Lehmann's project that we are gullible around him. His jokes aren't that smart, nor his content so layered and deep. I think, it is the cookiness of his world. Just by claiming this a teenager phase, he is not making an excuse. He sticks by it, igniting every action of these characters as a whimsical act- for them, at least- and so blind are they portrayed, that even an awe gasping aftermath that spirals out chaos, cannot shake them awake.

And another major triumph is speaking all of this through a sketchy comic vocab. The humor is subtle and acts respectively on both verbal and physical annotations which may not fill the room with laughter but will definitely plaster a smile in your face throughout the runtime of the film. Even, when these horrendous souls are ordered to look deep into themselves, the sheer pressure of the genre it tries to balance could not bare the heavyweight of the drama.

And in a way, film manages to duck out, its obvious textbook enemy or conflict. Usually, in a film as such, the makers have the urgency to justify and balance the world that they are depicting. But Lehman's final answer is not the court sentenced justice but the crime, the journey itself is. Something that we have all seen in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of The Wall Street, whose dark tedious three hour long journey calls out to the payment that was due, something that maybe, Heathers and Winona Ryder pays too.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Compi24

May 10, 2014

"Heathers'" social commentary and dark humor cannot quite redeem the film from the doldrums that its jarring tonal shifts and stilted characterization methods produce.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Charles_Peterso

Jul 3, 2012

The story makes some telling points about adolescent life. But despite its oh-so-cynical mannerisms, it falls all over itself to flatter an allegedly self-absorbed and self-pitying teen audience.

1 of 7 users found this helpful16

SEE ALL 20 REVIEWS