Pulp Fiction

Name: Pulp Fiction
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Released: October 14, 1994
Duration: 154 min
Rating: 94
Cast: Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson

1994

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 24 Critics

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 2566 Ratings

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9.1

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Pulp Fiction

Movie Details & Credits

Miramax Films | Release Date: October 14, 1994

Starring: Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson

Summary: Several inter-locking stories of crime and intrigue form a temporal mosaic set in the Los Angeles underworld.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 154 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Film.com - Lucy Mohl

There isn't a scene or a character in the film that plays just one way. Bloody bits turn hysterically funny, relief gets riddled with tension, and the lurking question marks are as intriguing as the story resolutions -- rec.arts.movies has been filled for months with theories about what was in the briefcase.

100

Chicago Tribune - Michael Wilmington

Pulp Fiction isn't just funny. It's outrageously funny. [14 Oct 1994]

100

Entertainment Weekly - Staff (Not Credited)

[Tarantino's] ability to take what seem like minor conversational themes and dovetail them onto later exchanges for maximum comic effect is close to genius. And the action can be literally heart-stopping. Read full review

100

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) - Rick Groen

Pulp Fiction is at least three movies rolled into one, and they're all scintillating. Read full review

100

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

Like "Citizen Kane," Pulp Fiction is constructed in such a nonlinear way that you could see it a dozen times and not be able to remember what comes next. Read full review

Film.com - John Hartl

Quentin Tarantino's latest movie puts an epic spin on a favorite genre, taking it to time-tripping levels rarely tested by its forerunners.

Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan

The writer-director appears to be straining for his effects. Some sequences, especially one involving bondage harnesses and homosexual rape, have the uncomfortable feeling of creative desperation, of someone who's afraid of losing his reputation scrambling for any way to offend sensibilities. [14 Oct 1994]

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User Reviews

C.B.

Oct 20, 2005

I still remember how giddy and excited I was while I was watching this movie in the theater. A top ten favorite of mine.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

TheNewSpielberg

May 2, 2011

One of the zaniest, funniest, smartest and most entertaining movies I have ever seen. One of my all time favorites as well. John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson give terrific performances.

37 of 40 users found this helpful373

muzziklover

Mar 6, 2011

One of the best films I have ever seen in my life. Everything is perfect and everything I love about Tarantino is here. The characters are easy to relate and fun to be with, the dialogs are destined to be common everyday quotes, the violence is highly stylish and fun to watch and everyOne of the best films I have ever seen in my life. Everything is perfect and everything I love about Tarantino is here. The characters are easy to relate and fun to be with, the dialogs are destined to be common everyday quotes, the violence is highly stylish and fun to watch and every single scene in this movie is so well paced and so well written that each moment is special (watch Christopher Walken's part. Amazing). You shouldn't be reading this review at all your should be watching the film yourself. It is worth your hours. The perfect referential film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MovieMasterEddy

Apr 3, 2016

“Pulp Fiction” is everything it’s said to be: brilliant and brutal, funny and exhilarating, jaw-droppingly cruel and disarmingly sweet. Quentin Tarantino, the postmodern Boy Wonder of American crass culture, for whom the only thing to fear is boredom itself, has produced a work of“Pulp Fiction” is everything it’s said to be: brilliant and brutal, funny and exhilarating, jaw-droppingly cruel and disarmingly sweet. Quentin Tarantino, the postmodern Boy Wonder of American crass culture, for whom the only thing to fear is boredom itself, has produced a work of mesmerizing entertainment. To watch this movie (whose 2 1/2 hours speed by unnoticed) is to experience a near-assault of creativity.

The multi-plot story, whose almost-Escherian design becomes apparent as the movie progresses, is too involved to outline. Essentially, the film’s a narrative circle of interconnecting, time-jumping episodes, in which various pulp-fictional gangsters, molls and palookas deal with bizarre occurrences in their lives. In the end, everything comes together in a multi-ironic Tarantino reverie. The never-a-dull-moment drama is propelled by its crazy-casting dream team: Samuel L. Jackson is unforgettable as a philosophical killer who quotes Ezekial before his ritual executions. Uma Thurman, serenely unrecognizable in a black wig, is marvelous as a zoned-out gangster’s girlfriend. Bruce Willis is a pug-faced charm as an aging boxer who refuses to throw a fight. And who knew John Travolta would produce the sweetest performance of his career as a good-natured goon?

As with his “Reservoir Dogs,” Tarantino delves into the working-stiff world of crime. For the characters in “Pulp Fiction,” killing, stealing and breaking fingers are merely occupational banalities. Partners Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth discuss whether to keep robbing liquor stores or stick up all the customers in the sandwich shop they’re eating in. (They carry on like a married couple making a mutual career decision.)

Hoodlums Travolta and Jackson—like modern-day Beckett characters—discuss foot massages, cunnilingus and cheeseburgers on their way to a routine killing job. The recently traveled Travolta informs Jackson that at the McDonald’s in Paris, the Quarter Pounder is known as “Le Royale.” However “a Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.”

“Come on,” says Jackson, as they approach the room of their victims-to-be. “Let’s get into character.”

With chatty asides like these, Tarantino makes unwilling—and disconcertingly easy—conspirators of the audience, no matter how outlandish the action. In one of the movie’s most harrowing sequences, Thurman has a drug overdose and Travolta—stuck with babysitting her for his boss—has to perform improvisatory surgery. It’s horrifying and oddly funny. As Travolta and drug-dealer Eric Stoltz attempt to revive her with the help of a medical book, the movie enters some out-there combination of Sam Peckinpah-style gruesomeness and “I Love Lucy.”

Tarantino, an L.A. video store clerk-turned-auteur, was raised on filmic bloodletting. Screen violence, assimilated secondhand from such films as “Straw Dogs,” “The Godfather” and “Scarface,” is his most immediate reference point. But he transcends himself by putting brutality in quotation marks, making it traipse hand in hand with absurdity. It may be that, with “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” Tarantino has over-mined his muse. Should he make another work remotely like either film, he’ll run the risk of rendering his work commonplace. But for now, his material is witty, ironic and inspired—although the irredeemably squeamish should know to stay away. In “Pulp,” you’ll see what it is to clean up a car spattered with brain gore. But you’ll also see an amusing Harvey Keitel, as a freelance clean-up man (dressed as if for a prom) supervising the icky proceedings. In the film’s most exhilarating showpiece, Willis undergoes an extended, hair-raising suspense ride that includes sword violence, rape, gunfire and torture. After the most brutalizing experience of his life, Willis returns to his girlfriend, who promptly starts crying. Shaken beyond compare, Willis is the one who has to do the consoling.

“How was your breakfast?” he inquires, as pleasantly as he can.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JamesM

Nov 19, 2005

About as perfect as a film will ever get. See it.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

KnightfallLA

May 4, 2013

Pulp Fiction is certainly a great spectacle to observe in a directing and in a screenplay standpoint. This tackles many themes such as desperation, loyalty, respect, faith, and self-reflection. This movie is truly unique and I recommend anyone who is interested, whether it is for recreationPulp Fiction is certainly a great spectacle to observe in a directing and in a screenplay standpoint. This tackles many themes such as desperation, loyalty, respect, faith, and self-reflection. This movie is truly unique and I recommend anyone who is interested, whether it is for recreation or for film studies.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Dec 26, 2007

We are movie fanatics who watched this cinematic pile of crap with seven other people ranging in age from 22 to 86. We watch a lot of movies in all genres, and we all thought it was the most overrated piece of vulgar garbage with gratuitous violence, foul language, and on top of it, waaaay We are movie fanatics who watched this cinematic pile of crap with seven other people ranging in age from 22 to 86. We watch a lot of movies in all genres, and we all thought it was the most overrated piece of vulgar garbage with gratuitous violence, foul language, and on top of it, waaaay too boring. Don't know what deep thought anyone is talking about. We have removed this from our collection. BTW, I have never given a movie a 0 before, and we have over 2000 movies in our collection. I echo those who say stay away.....… Expand

0 of 13 users found this helpful

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