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Nuts (1987)

tomatometer

40

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

audience

66

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 4,004

My Rating

Movie Info

High-priced hooker Claudia Draper (Barbra Streisand) has been arrested for the murder of one of her clients. The attorney engaged by Claudia's parents hopes to cop an insanity plea so that she can avoid a trial and manslaughter conviction. But she refuses this, citing a proviso in New York law that may result in her spending the rest of her life in an institution. Against all odds, struggling lawyer Aaron Levinsky (Richard Dreyfuss) tries to prove that Claudia is not crazy and is capable of

R, 1 hr. 56 min.

Drama

Jul 1, 2003

Warner Home Video

Cast

All Critics (22) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (13) | DVD (5)

Streisand produced, developed the script, and composed most of the music for this showpiece, and her efforts, as usual, pay off, above all in her angry and lively performance.

January 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film is almost entirely adrift.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It wants to be a movie with a message, but in the end it's just a melodrama.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Nuts is essentially just a futile exercise in courtroom cliches, surrounding a good performance that doesn't fit.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's Hollywood manipulation at its best.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

All of the secondary roles are well cast, and Martin Ritt's direction is as good as it can be, considering the script's limitations.

January 11, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Streisand's a star, which means your complicity is on call at all times. In the shade, Dreyfuss is terrific, banking down his natural cockiness.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Misfire with Streisand doesn't know if it's funny or pitiful. But it IS depressing.

August 1, 2005 Comment
Video-Reviewmaster.com

Underated movie with great performances by Streisand and Dreyfuss.

January 9, 2005 Comment

Nuts is a gutsy movie about a woman who refuses to submit to the purposes, fantasies or needs of others.

August 28, 2004 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice

Leslie Nielsen in his panties is more engaging than the entire remainder of this horrid bore.

April 28, 2004 Comment
New Times

The actors mostly acquit themselves, but let's face it - the material itself should have been condemned.

August 17, 2003 Comment
Nick's Flick Picks

A surprisingly compelling courtroom drama, which only lapses into Hollywood gloss at the end when Streisand delivers a mannered, close-up monologue.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Other Ritt films have been manipulative, but at least they have been so in good cause.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Nuts

It was slightly unbelievable for me since if I'd such a client to defend who is not willing to co-operate the least, I don't think I'd touch that case. Or else give up easily. Then again, I ain't no lawyer!!! They show her crossing the limits so many times that it becomes hard to digest it that she ain't a nut. Leaving

February 8, 2011
imrealgod

Super Reviewer

Really powerful and intelligent film based on Tom Topor's Broadway play as this is a highly charged drama that raises some uneasy questions.This is a film that deserves more attention then it originally received, it is honest, though-provoking, and features a brilliant performance from Barbra Streisand as real-life

February 18, 2009
deano
Dean McKenna

Super Reviewer

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