One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Reviews
There's a lot here. But with a classic like Cuckoo's Nest, too much is never enough.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest is an earnest attempt to make a serious film. But in the end the movie backs away from both the human reality and the cloudy but potent symbolism that Ken Kesey found in the asylum.
Viewed 30 years after its release, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest remains a very good motion picture, although one that perhaps just misses the pinnacle of greatness where its reputation suggests it resides.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Jack Nicholson stars in an outstanding characterization of Ken Kesey's asylum anti-hero, McMurphy, and Milos Forman's direction of a superbly-cast film is equally meritorious.
Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy as if he were born to it, and the supporting cast provides fine, detailed performances.
Time Out
Top CriticSet in an insane asylum, the film involves the oppression of the individual, a struggle spearheaded by an ebullient Nicholson, turning in a star performance if ever there was one.
Even granting the artist his license, America is much too big and various to be satisfactorily reduced to the dimensions of one mental ward in a movie like this.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest not a great film because it is manipulative, or is it great because it is so superbly manipulative? I can see it through either filter.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
