46
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80SalonCharles TaylorSalonCharles TaylorFor all of their vaunted (and, it turns out, false) fidelity to Nabokov, Lyne and Schiff have made a pretty, gauzy Lolita that replaces the book's cruelty and comedy with manufactured lyricism and mopey romanticism.
- 80The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe film's master stroke is its understanding that this is Humbert's story, told in his own lyrical voice, from his own passionate, sad, tortured perspective.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliIn many ways, the concept underlying Lolita is more provocative than the actual material, which tends to be a bit long-winded. This is more the fault of the book than of Lyne's approach.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittVladimir Nabokov's novel helped open society's eyes to the evils of pedophilia in the 1950s, and this pensive adaptation renews the warning for a later generation.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)New York Magazine (Vulture)The new version of Lolita, released at last, turns out to be a beautifully made, melancholy, and rather touching account of a doomed love affair between a full-grown man and a very young woman.
- 50Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenHowever, Lyne (whose sexually exploitative works include such popular box-office fare as "Flashdance," "9 1/2 Weeks," "Fatal Attraction," and "Indecent Proposal") has turned in a Lolita that is remarkably tame and tasteful. This is a Lolita for the English Lit crowd rather than the raincoat crowd.
- 50Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranExcept for a memorably haunted performance by Jeremy Irons as the conflicted Humbert Humbert, what the new version lacks most of all is inspiration.
- 50Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThough Adrian Lyne's clodhopper direction, underlined by a mushy Ennio Morricone score, predictably runs the gamut from soft-core porn in the manner of David Hamilton to hectoring close-ups, this is perhaps Lyne's best movie after Jacob's Ladder--a genuinely disturbing (if far from literary) adaptation of Nabokov's extraordinary novel, written by former journalist Stephen Schiff and starring, predictably, Jeremy Irons.
- 40Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonThere's precious few yucks, for one thing, but you can't say you're surprised that the astonishingly humorless Lyne hadn't noticed or cared that the Nabokov original is a droll comedy of errors first and a self-pitying romantic tragedy second.
- 20The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsLyne doesn't seem to get the novel, failing to incorporate any of Nabokov's black comedy -- which is to say, Lolita's heart and soul.