Home
About OFCS
Member Profiles
Schedule
Forum
Awards
O.F.C.S. Members:
Sign In
O.F.C.S. Members
Movie Overview
Cast
Reese Witherspoon
James Purefoy
Jonathan Rhys-Myers
Director
Mira Nair
MPAA Rating
PG-13 - some sensuality, partial nudity, and a brief violent image
Vanity Fair (2004)
REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
OTHER
(1 - 38) of 38
OFCS Rating: 39% Rotten
Page
1
D+
"Nair’s ambitions get the best of her, and poison the clarity of her vision."
FilmJerk.com
Brian Orndorf
C
"With a novel of such length, you either have to make a miniseries or adapt it more ruthlessly."
AboutFilm.com
Carlo Cavagna
"Ah, to be young, bright, and scheming in 19th century Britain!"
PopMatters
Cynthia Fuchs
66/100
"This film, which aims to expose the banal reality behind the grande facade of high society, itself proves to have no depth."
Apollo Guide
Dan Jardine
2.5/4
"Reese's piece certainly looks good, it's just not terribly engaging."
Movie Boeuf
David N. Butterworth
C-
"It doesn't do justice to Thackeray's most famous novel."
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
"Thackeray's readers could not help but root for his 'I'm no angel Becky,' but there's nothing to care for in this overblown production."
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Donald J. Levit
2/4
"What might work powerfully on the page comes off on the screen as not terribly interesting."
TheMovieBoy.com
Dustin Putman
D
"Dull and mostly lifeless... leaving viewers with little but a series of pretty pictures of pretty actors in pretty costumes."
FilmJerk.com
Edward Havens
C
"Watching it is the equivalent of investing ten million dollars at 0.2% interest."
Film Blather
Eugene Novikov
C+
"Not unpleasant in a bland Masterpiece Theatre way, but not very faithful to its astringent source either...easy to sit through but not particularly engaging."
One Guy's Opinion
Frank Swietek
4/5
"This exquisite screen adaptation of Thackeray's 1847 morality play has great relevance to our time when envy and efforts to make it into the Winning Class are widespread."
Spirituality and Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
3/4
"A charming movie that falls short of greatness, but is still worth a solid recommendation."
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
2.5/4
"robs the story of some of its sharper edges, turning Thackery's greedy, avarice-ridden social climber into an updated rags-to-riches romantic fantasy"
Q Network Film Desk
James Kendrick
4/5
"Witherspoon is solid in this adaptation, but Nair's direction is what makes it more than just petticoats and plotting."
Netflix
James Rocchi
3/4
"Mira Nair’s keen eye and artistic flair are abundantly evident in this lush screen adaptation."
Palo Alto Weekly
Jeanne Aufmuth
6/10
"Showing up in what amounts to cinematic cameos, India absolutely blows 19th century England away. It made me wish more of the tale took place there."
Window to the Movies
Jeffrey Chen
4/10
"Like
The House of Mirth
-- more so, when you think about both pictures being headed by amber-haired actresses who are in way over their heads."
Planet Sick-Boy
Jon Popick
3
"In Vanity Fair, Witherspoon presents a complex character beautifully, even when her character’s choices vastly depart from her own values."
Bangitout.com
Jordan Hiller
3/4
"Es una sólida adaptación de la novela de Thackeray por la que bien vale la pena pagar el boleto."
Moviola
Jorge Avila Andrade
4.5/5
"If you had any idea how horrible this book is, you would love how wonderfully this film came out."
Cinerina
Karina Montgomery
2/4
"Aaw, the exquisite dullness of bourgeois cinema, so intensely preoccupied with period detail, solemn men and pale girls. "
Montreal Film Journal
Kevin N. Laforest
C+
"...demands too many abrupt about-faces for characters who are given episodic screen time to make epic evolutions"
Reeling Reviews
Laura Clifford
B-
"Becky’s adept maneuvering through upper society’s pitfalls is sometimes muddled from too many characters and too little explanation, but Witherspoon remains fun to watch..."
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema
Mark Pfeiffer
"Nair... revels in Thackeray’s lampooning of genteel class warfare..."
Flick Filosopher
MaryAnn Johanson
B
"Witherspoon takes on the movie the way Becky takes on the world, with oceans of sheer star quality to dazzle and beguile. Resistance is futile."
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Nell Minow
2/4
"Mira Nair mistakenly makes the conniving Becky a symbol of modern feminist pluckiness."
Slant Magazine
Nick Schager
"Seems to be less an adapatation of the classic 19th-century novel by William Makepeace Thackeray and more of an adaptation of the magazine that bears the same title."
Critic Doctor
Peter Sobczynski
0.5/5
"A catastrophe! Reese Witherspoon's bad acting turns Becky Sharp into Becky Stupid."
Film Threat
Phil Hall
2.5/5
"Even though the central stories are compelling, dividing the film between them means we never have anyone to grab hold of."
Shadows on the Wall
Rich Cline
1/5
"Yay! England sucks and India is cool! Well, except for that troublesome caste system, of course."
eFilmCritic.com
Rob Gonsalves
B
"Not at all the stiff costume drama bore I thought this movie was going to be."
Laramie Movie Scope
Robert Roten
3.5/5
"if the class struggles of the corseted clans are your thing, then Fair is a decently-acted and good looking film that’s worth your time and money"
Filmcritic.com
Sean O'Connell
C+
"An honorable failure. Nair's warm humanism is a poor match for Thackeray's misanthropic tendencies makes the mistake of trying to turn the story into a crowd-pleaser."
Decent Films Guide
Steven D. Greydanus
6/10
"Opulent yet bland, never venturing below the veneer of its story"
www.susangranger.com
Susan Granger
2.5/4
"Much like its conniving heroine: witty, frequently charming, but not quite up to snuff."
Reel.com
Timothy Knight
"Click here to see review"
Wolf Entertainment Guide
William Wolf
B-
Read review
Reeling Reviews
Robin Clifford
(1 - 38) of 38
OFCS Rating: 39% Rotten
Page
1
Reviews database provided by
Rotten Tomatoes
and the
Movie Review Query Engine
All articles and reviews on this website © the respective authors.
All other content © The Online Film Critics Society (1.38)