Crimes of the Heart (1986)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 2,650
My Rating
Movie Info
Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Beth Henley (who also penned the screenplay), Crimes of the Heart stars three high-powered actresses as three high-strung sisters. Lenny (Diane Keaton), Meg (Jessica Lange) and Babe (Sissy Spacek) gather at Lenny's deep-South home for her birthday. Lenny, the oldest, can't seem to sustain a relationship with a man. Meg is an aspiring actress who hasn't progressed beyond commercial voice overs. And Babe is released on bond from jail after shooting
Dec 12, 1986 Wide
Feb 3, 2004
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
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Cast
-
Diane Keaton
Lenny Magrath -
Jessica Lange
Meg Magrath -
Sissy Spacek
Babe Magrath -
Sam Shepard
Doc Porter -
Tess Harper
Chick Boyle -
Hurd Hatfield
Old Grandaddy -
David Carpenter
Barnette Lloyd -
Beeson Carroll
Zackery Botrelle -
Jean Willard
Lucille Botrelle -
Greg Travis
Willie Jay -
Tom Mason
Uncle Watson -
Annie McKnight
Annie May Jenkins -
Connie Adams
Zackery's Concubine
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All Critics (21) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (4)
It is excruciating: a combination of Beth Henley's insistently eccentric screenplay, Bruce Beresford's frenzied direction and the sight of three singular talents on an acting roller coaster with no one riding the brakes.
Beresford fails to generate sufficient chemistry to bind the performances. Occasional bursts of delicious tragic humour nevertheless make this a not unlikeable 'feminist' mood piece.
Top Critic[It] has the dubious distinction of calling attention to just about everything the play isn't, and was never meant to be.
As Spacek, Lange and Keaton clamor for attention, "Crimes of the Heart" becomes less a movie than a three-ring circus, and ringmaster Beresford does little to direct your gaze.
There are moments when the movie doesn't seem to know where it's going, but for once that's a good thing because the uncertainty almost always ends with some kind of a delightful, weird surprise.
The Oscar-winning actresses make fine confederates -- their gracious collaboration propelling this happy adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
A dismal affair that reeks of pretentious self-importance.
Using eccentric personalities situated in seemingly ordinary locales, Beresford's comedy is still too theatrical to qualify as cinema, but it's well acted by Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, and particularly Sissy Spacek, as three Chekhovian sisters.
superbly well acted
Crimes of the Heart is a bittersweet comedy that is funny, inventive and affecting.
Better than you might think with a real feel for the south.
Great work by all in a deliciously twisted comedy
Okay, the Oscar-winning actresses chew the scenery, but if you can't do that in a movie about crackpot Southerners, when can you?
The snappy dialogue comes thick and fast, while Spacek and Harper revel in turns that landed them both Oscar nominations.
A wacky screwball dark southern comedy
A gleaming adaptation that features three wonderful performances.
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