Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
76
(31 sources)
76
(31 sources)
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100
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100
New York Post
It's hard to remember a film that mixes disparate, delicate ingredients with the subtlety and virtuosity of Sofia Coppola's brilliant The Virgin Suicides. Read Full Review » -
91
Portland Oregonian
Possesses a tone that wobbles masterfully between whimsy, dread, affection and horror, building on rich performances and an understated showiness to cast a queer and tingly spell. Read Full Review » -
90
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90
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90
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90
Salon.com
(Coppola) connects with the essential purity of Eugenides' story, stripping it down to its bare essentials and cutting straight to everything that's wonderful about it. Read Full Review » -
89
Austin Chronicle
In an astonishingly assured film debut, Coppola captures the poetry and sweetness of Eugenides' novel without allowing any of the standard rites of passage -- first dates, high-school dances -- to feel trite. Read Full Review » -
88
Boston Globe
From start to finish there's a shimmer of discovery about it - our discovery of it, Coppola's discovery of how much she can do. Read Full Review » -
88
Baltimore Sun
It gets under your skin and into your head, and you don't want it to leave. Read Full Review » -
88
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88
Chicago Tribune
It's quite funny, though not in a predictably irreverent way, and it moves along briskly - a little too briskly toward the end. Read Full Review » -
80
Dallas Observer
(Coppola) understands the crisp, oblique horror and wistfulness of Eugenides' narrative, plunking down five enchanting princesses into an environment that is anything but magical. Read Full Review » -
80
Village Voice
Coppola looks beyond the seductive metaphysical puzzle and locates the core of Eugenides's allegory in an obsessive, almost forensic act of remembering, both futile and inexplicably essential. Read Full Review » -
80
Rolling Stone
Coppola gives Suicides a haunted quality that is undeniably affecting, a feeling intensified by a wonderfully funny and touching Dunst. Read Full Review » -
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
There's a melancholy sweetness here, a gentle humor that speaks to the angst and awkwardness of girls turning into women, and the awe of boys watching the transformation from afar. Read Full Review » -
75
Christian Science Monitor
An artful blend of '70s detail and dreamlike moodiness makes Coppola's first movie an exceptionally promising directorial debut. Read Full Review » -
75
New York Daily News
Has a great deal of empathy for that excruciating limbo that is female adolescence. Read Full Review » -
75
USA Today
In contrast to big-screen bummers we see every week, this movie conveys genuine sorrow. Read Full Review » -
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Coppola infuses her movie with a dreamy poetic tone, and deftly translates the essential metaphors of youth, sexuality and death without sacrificing an earthy humor. Read Full Review » -
70
Variety
Humor prevails throughout, but it doesn't deflate the disturbing elements of the tale, which miraculously manages to stay droll, heartfelt and poignant to the end. Read Full Review » -
70
Los Angeles Times
Successfully venturesome, but you need to know that it's also a real downer. Read Full Review » -
70
Chicago Reader
A very curious and eclectic piece of work--fresh even when it's awkward. Read Full Review » -
67
Entertainment Weekly
Glum and preposterous -- an operatically stilted adolescent martyr fantasy -- and yet, as staged by Coppola, it's well worth seeing. Read Full Review » -
60
TNT RoughCut
One major inappropriate casting decision (Kirsten Dunst, who's made a solid leap to young adulthood in "Dick" and "Drop Dead Gorgeous" is cast as 14-year-old Lux?) and an underdeveloped motive for the girls' self-demise left me unaffected. Read Full Review » -
60
Washington Post
While not exactly a cop-out, Virgin may leave some viewers who crave traditional closure with the same hollow ache described by the narrator as follows: "What lingered after them was not life but the most trivial list of mundane facts." Read Full Review » -
60
TV Guide
The soundtrack (Heart, ELO, Todd Rundgren, and an original score by the French duo Air) is spot-on and the costume design (pukka shells and knee-socks) is hideously accurate. Read Full Review » -
60
The New York Times
Except perhaps for Lux, who, like The Virgin Suicides itself, is a hothouse flower perishing for want of sunshine and fresh air. Read Full Review » -
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
While young Coppola is a pro with her camera, she'd be wise to brush up on her storytelling skills. Read Full Review » -
57
Mr. Showbiz
A detective story without a solution and a coming-of-ager without discernable characters. Read Full Review » -
50
LA Weekly
Sofia Coppola, who's directed the film from her own screenplay, narrowly misses making the story work on the screen. Read Full Review »
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