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:
93
(18 sources)
93
(18 sources)
-
100
Entertainment Weekly
Funny and scary, Reversal is a tour de force for Schroeder, who examines the idle rich, the intricacies of the legal system, and the imperatives of morality concisely but with unmatched brio. Read Full Review » -
100
Washington Post
This engrossing mystery-comedy peeks through the keyholes of the rich and infamous in a manner both droll and delicious. Read Full Review » -
100
Chicago Reader
The juxtaposition of liberal Jewish attorney Dershowitz (Silver) and von Bulow working together on the latter's defense makes for some engagingly offbeat drama, with some interesting insights into the legal process. Read Full Review » -
100
Chicago Sun-Times
It is a surprisingly entertaining film - funny, wicked, sharp-tongued and devious. It does not solve the case, nor intend to. I am afraid it only intends to entertain. Read Full Review » -
100
Christian Science Monitor
Barbet Schroeder directed the ingeniously made film, which weaves fact, hypothesis, and conjecture into a harrowing yet continually gripping and often highly amusing narrative. [12 Oct 1990] Read Full Review » -
100
The New York Times
What makes it so instructively entertaining is the pivotal character of Claus von Bulow, played by Jeremy Irons within an inch of his professional life. It's a fine, devastating performance, affected, mannerly, edgy, though seemingly ever in complete control. [17 Oct 1990] Read Full Review » -
100
San Francisco Chronicle
The comic contrast between the genteel snobbery of von Bulow, a Danish aristocrat, and Dershowitz's dry contempt for his well-tailored client is treated with understated but stinging wit in Nicholas Kazan's brilliant script. [9 Nov 1990] Read Full Review » -
100
Los Angeles Times
The performances of Close and Silver are flawless, but it is Irons' portrait that remains behind, an enigmatic after-image… Reversal of Fortune is a delectable tour through facets of the lives of the rich and famous that Robin Leach wouldn't touch with a forked stick. [17 Oct 1990] Read Full Review » -
100
Rolling Stone
What makes it such a mesmerizing, wickedly witty entertainment is the revealing portrait it paints of an era in which everyone is presumed guilty where greed is concerned... It's an often chilly movie, but the chill cuts to the bone. Read Full Review » -
100
-
90
The New Republic
Irons, busily offset by Silver, gleefully choreographed by Schroeder, gives the picture its real bravura reason for being. [19 Nov 1990] Read Full Review » -
88
-
88
USA Today
If Silver is superb, Irons is transcendent. As some forgotten comic once said of George Sanders: A grapefruit wouldn't dare squirt in his eye. [17 Oct 1990] Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Tribune
Irons' Von Bulow is easily the most attractive and entertaining movie heavy since James Mason's villain in ''North by Northwest,'' a figure with whom he shares a taste for elegant homes and wry understatement. [17 Oct 1990] Read Full Review » -
80
Empire
An intriguing and absorbing movie, reeking of class and quite packed with powerhouse performances. Read Full Review » -
80
Wall Street Journal
What's fun about this movie is the sight of Mr. Irons's Claus stalking the mansion like a tall, skinny ghost smiling at the perverseness of it all. [18 Oct 1990, p.A14(E)] Read Full Review » -
80
TV Guide
Irons's canny performance dominates the film. He plays the role with apparent frankness and dignity rather than melodramatic villainy. Read Full Review » -
60
The New Yorker
Dershowitz's life-enhancing scenes are flatulent, and they're dishonest: the movie seems to be putting us down for enjoying the scandal satire it's dishing up. [19 Nov 1990] Read Full Review »
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