51
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelThe whole archaic big musical circus here surrounds a Happening -- Barbra Streisand -- and it's all worth seeing in order to see her.
- 63USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkDolly lost a fortune and helped to all but kill the genre, yet this famed musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker is more fun than its rep indicates. [15 Nov 2005, p.8D]
- 60EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid ParkinsonEmphasis has been placed on extravaganza, when it should really have been placed on getting good performances out of a talented cast.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineIt's an exercise in star turns, surrounded by elephantine blandness. The supporting cast look, and act, like refugees from Disney or Oral Roberts University, handpicked not to ruffle the star.
- 50LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenLarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenBy the time Streisand takes over the entire movie with the title number, in which the massive waitstaff of an upscale restaurant gathers to sing and dance her praises, I couldn’t help but wonder what all the fuss was about.
- 50The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyGene Kelly, who directed two classic musicals with Stanley Donen, here acts like a caretaker of a big, valuable property. He and Michael Kidd, his choreographer, have protected everything Gower Champion gave the original, and added nothing to the heritage of the musical screen except statistics.
- 50Time OutTime OutOnly Streisand's second movie, but already (as co-star Matthau grumbled) she was hogging the screen. The trouble is that there isn't much to hog in this elephant which gave Star! a helping hoof in burying the Hollywood musical.
- 50Slant MagazineEric HendersonSlant MagazineEric HendersonThe choreography, the performances, the set decoration, the dialogue, everything about Hello, Dolly! is played directly to the back row of the theater, which would be fine on the stage, but on anamorphic widescreen close-ups tends to be more frightening than mirthful.
- 40Chicago ReaderPat GrahamChicago ReaderPat GrahamGene Kelly directed, a long way from Terpsichore apparently, though not, alas, from the Thanksgiving turkey.