Ed Wood (1994)

All Critics (59) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (5) | DVD (41)

Beguiling rather than thrilling, oddly charming instead of transporting, meaning that Disney will have its work cut out for it with what is at heart a cult movie and a film buff's dream.

October 5, 2008 Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

It certainly succeeds as a funny, touching tribute to tenacity, energy, ambition and friendship.

January 26, 2006 Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

Mr. Depp isn't best known as a comic actor, but he gives a witty and captivating performance, bringing wonderful buoyancy to this crazy role.

May 20, 2003 Full Review

Janet Maslin

New York Times

Top Critic

Outrageously disjointed and just as outrageously entertaining, the picture stands as a successful outsider's tribute to a failed kindred spirit.

May 12, 2001 | Comment (1)

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

The movie's black and white photography convincingly recaptures the look and feel of 1950s sleaze, including some of the least convincing special effects in movie history.

January 1, 2000 Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

Given the finished film, one also has to wonder if Ed Wood was interesting enough to base a two- hour movie on.

January 1, 2000 Full Review | Comments (7)

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

A more-than-competent transfer of one of American cinema's unsung gems, but Ed Wood deserves Criterion-level respect.

September 27, 2012 Full Review

Chuck Bowen

Slant Magazine

Burton wraps it all in his singular vision, devoid of bells and whistles and all the more potent for its comparative subtlety.

September 26, 2012 Full Review

Rob Vaux

Sci-Fi Movie Page

Depp-led cult-director bio delves into cross-dressing, kink.

October 12, 2010 Full Review | Comment (1)

Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

Typically, Burton's storytelling is sometimes erratic, but his emphasis on humanizing marginal characters -- a project that seems central to his artistic agenda -- is as strong as ever.

October 5, 2008 Full Review

TV Guide's Movie Guide

The film's greatest achievement is to avoid the easy, patronizing laughs and instead see the near heroic qualities of a patently untalented artist.

October 5, 2008 Full Review

Film4

It's refreshing to see Burton in a relatively upbeat mood, but he picked the wrong story to give an optimistic spin.

July 30, 2007 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

I loved the acting, Johnny Depp and Landau are awesome, the B&W look is perfect and the story is kind of cute, but where is the genius in this flick? Am I missing something?

July 7, 2006 Full Review

JoBlo

JoBlo's Movie Emporium

[Tim Burton's] own jazz-hands dance to the spirit of movie-making.

April 5, 2006 Full Review

Mark Bourne

DVDJournal.com

Buena Vista Home Video's long-delayed DVD release of Ed Wood makes the wait worthwhile.... The chief attraction among the extras is the informative and entertaining commentary audio with Tim Burton, Martin Landau....

April 5, 2006 Full Review

Mark Bourne

DVDJournal.com

Droll and witty, Burton's tribute evokes the career of Hollywood's "worst" director by making a most stylishly polished production

June 27, 2005 Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

My favorite deleted scene: Bill Murray as Wood's transsexual wanna-be crony serenading a mariachi band in a meat locker with "Que Sera Sera" in an eccentric sexual swoon.

March 9, 2005 Full Review

Tim Appelo

Seattle Weekly

Landau is wonderfully real, and with the movie's humor providing an ideal counterbalance, his touching performance enriches the film tremendously, and legitimizes it.

February 15, 2005 Full Review

Douglas Pratt

Movie City News

If you love movies, you've got a little Ed Wood inside you.

November 30, 2004 Full Review

Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

Tim Burton, fidèle à son talent et à sa réputation, transforme un scénario déjà bien concocté en un film des plus divertissants

November 25, 2004

Louis-Jérôme Cloutier

Panorama

Tim Burton's best movie.

November 9, 2004 Full Review

Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

• 1. Vampira: You're watching our Halloween movie, 'White Zombie', starring Bela Lugosi, John Harron, Madge Bellamy, and a bunch of other people I've never heard of.
  – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)
• 1. Bela Lugosi: I refuse to drive in this country. Too many madmen.
  – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)
• 1. Bela Lugosi: GODDAMN, it's cold!
  2. Ed Wood: It'll warm up once you're in it.
  3. Bela Lugosi: FUCK YOU! You come out here!
  – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)
• 1. Criswell: Eddie, we're in show biz. It's all about razzle-dazzle. Appearances. If you look good, and you talk well, people will swallow anything.
  – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)
• 1. Ed Wood: Listen, I was wondering if you'd like to go out sometime, grab some dinner, maybe?
  2. Vampira: You mean a date? I thought you were a fag
  3. Ed Wood: No, no, I'm just a transvestite.
  – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)
• 1. Georgie Weiss: Why would Lugosi wanna do a sex-change flick?
  2. Ed Wood: Because he's my friend!
  – Submitted by Adam O (3 months ago)

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