63
Metascore
35 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterPacino gives a keenly measured performance, leading an excellent British cast through their paces in a richly colorful production that should please selective audiences and adds to the list of major film adaptations of Shakespeare's work.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasWhat Radford above all accomplishes in his filming of The Merchant of Venice is to suggest that, in essence, it is that most modern of entertainments: a dark - indeed, very dark - comedy.
- 75USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigGiven the story's focus on religion and the intolerance that still rages in today's world, The Merchant of Venice remains deeply meaningful.
- 70VarietyDavid RooneyVarietyDavid RooneyDespite a series of disclaimers about the treatment of Jews in the 16th century, there's even less disguising onscreen than onstage that this is an uncomfortably anti-Semitic play and somewhat problematic for contempo audiences.
- 70The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensBtter-than-average screen Shakespeare: intelligent without being showily clever, and motivated more by genuine fascination with the play's language and ideas than by a desire to cannibalize its author's cultural prestige.
- 63ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliIntriguing but ultimately unfulfilling.
- 50The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsWhen the halves of the film collide in the courtroom climax, it looks like a misbegotten pilot for Law & Order: Usury Victims Unit.
- 50Village VoiceJessica WinterVillage VoiceJessica WinterPacino simply wipes the cobblestones with the rest of the cast: His beautifully calibrated performance is lucid, commanding, and genuinely tragic.
- 50The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneThere are too many rancors--hatred of life, hatred of others, hatred of their means to happiness--to contend with here, and the loveliness of the verse beats fruitlessly against them, as if against a wharf.
- 10Film ThreatPhil HallFilm ThreatPhil HallThe single worst Shakespeare film ever made.