54
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyEntertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyThe film’s packed with messages in invisible ink, secret staircases, and corpses in cauldrons of pig’s blood. And since ? Connery’s bald as a cue ball, that means no distracting Hanksian haircuts!
- 80NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenThe Name of the Rose spins a whopping good tale, a medieval murder mystery that only those with seriously damaged attention spans will find hard to enjoy. [29 Sept 1986, p.63]
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA little slow-moving but ultimately rewarding.
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhat this movie needs is a clear, spare, logical screenplay. It's all inspiration and no discipline.
- 50The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyThe movie is full of the kind of atmosphere that can be created by elaborate sets, dim lighting and misty landscapes, though it has no singular character or dominant mood.
- 50Los Angeles TimesSheila BensonLos Angeles TimesSheila BensonYes, it is splendid that anyone would take on so formidable a project as Eco’s 500-page chambered nautilus of a novel. Yes, this certainly feels like a 14th-Century Italian abbey, bleak, drafty and forbidding. Yes, it looks like it too--the 14th-Century as cast by Federico Fellini, every face a grotesque. But no, sad to say, it isn’t a perfectly marvelous film.
- 50The Associated PressThe Associated PressWhether these Hollywood touches will make the film appealing to the Rambo crowd is doubtful. By all means, read the book first. [24 Sept 1986]
- 40Washington PostPaul AttanasioWashington PostPaul AttanasioIf the style of the film matches the story, that doesn't make it any easier to look at -- it's just too bleak, and in the end, you'd rather see "Ivanhoe." Annaud never finds the right rhythm for the movie, and it's sluggishly paced, even as palimpsests go.
- 40Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyIt's a richly appointed production that's hard to take seriously since the monks all look vaguely like Marty Feldman.
- 30Chicago ReaderPat GrahamChicago ReaderPat GrahamYou want misery? he gives you misery—dark, drear, suppurating medieval oppressiveness; monotony? he gives you that too, lots and lots of monotony; subhuman grotesquerie and primitive superstition? not to worry: this guy didn't direct Quest for Fire for nothing.