If you can separate - or rescue - It's a Wonderful Life from its niche as a Christmas classic, you might discover a film that swings wildly from noirlike starkness to saccharine bathos.
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12/12/08
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
92 %
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Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 48
Rotten:4
Average Rating: 8.5/10
Consensus: The holiday classic to define all holiday classics, It's a Wonderful Life is one of a handful of films worth an annual viewing.
Runtime: 2 hrs 49 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: A good but slightly ineffectual man tries to off himself after an error that really wasn't his fault. In Christmas Carol fashion, his crusty-but-lovable guardian angel shows up to give him a tour... [More]
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell
Director: Frank Capra
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Reviews for It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a pretty wonderful movie.
12/05/08
Top CriticA genuine American classic.
10/18/08
You'd have to possess a very hard heart not to find something to love in this story.
11/27/07
Without overlooking its lapses into populist bathos, it's necessary to rescue It's a Wonderful Life from its spot at the centerpiece of untouchable American "classics."
11/16/07
George Bailey and Bedford Falls never looked so good!
11/06/07
The epiphany of movie sentiment and a transcendent experience.
06/26/07
Top CriticThe April-air wholesomeness and humanism of this natural bring back vividly the reminder that, essentially, the screen best offers unselfconscious, forthright entertainment.
06/26/07
Top CriticHistory vindicated Capra: Though failure at the time of release, the superbly acted film (terrific Jimmy Stewart) is recognized today as undisputable masterpiece; the film's message didn't fit the disillusioned mood of the country right after WWII
12/15/06
As warm and comforting as a scarf knit by Grandma.
11/04/06
Deserving of one viewing per year, preferably without the interruption of commercials.
10/05/06
Regardless of whether or not you believe in angels, it's a wonderful movie.
06/24/06
Not only as one of the best Christmas movies, but THE Christmas movie.
12/23/05
By now everyone knows Frank Capra's holiday classic and the tears it so effortlessly conjures up year after year -- but it's easy to forget how truly vicious the film is, and how brilliantly James Stewart rises to the challenge.
12/17/05
The film's entire premise can be summed up with a bit of text from the film: "Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."
04/17/05
No review available.
03/11/05
Director Frank Capra's perennial plum.
10/25/04
Frank Capra's classic bittersweet comedy/drama plays as a testament to the family values of small-town America just after WW11.
05/10/04
Latest News for It's a Wonderful Life
June 10, 2008:
Bob Anderson: 1933-2008 
Bob Anderson, the actor who played the younger version of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, has succumbed to cancer at the age of 75. More...
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
December 22, 2006:
RT's Top Christmas Classics -- Christmas Countdown, Day Five
Welcome to the last day of RT's Five Days of Christmas Countdown, where we serve up a different list each day of the best holiday flicks around. Today, we've got the crème de la... More...
December 15, 2005:
Critical Consensus: A Sly "Family Stone," A Towering "Kong"
This week at the movies, we have a giant ape {"King Kong"} and some yuletide dramedy ("The Family Stone"). Will the critics go bananas for these flicks? More...
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