50
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrIt's the film in which an entertainer at last becomes an artist, dealing with manifestly personal, painful emotions and casting them in a form that gives them philosophical perspective and universal affect. It's Spielberg's finest achievement, a film that will look better and better with the passage of time. [22 Dec. 1989]
- 88Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrYou expect virtuosic technique from Spielberg, and it's there, in spades. What you don't expect is heartfelt romanticism. But that's there, too... Always is a terrific-looking throwback to those large-scale '40s cinematic stews of romantic longing. [22 Dec. 1989, p.43]
- 75USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkThough there are scenes in Always (both intimate and spectacular) I love, the film does seem a bit asking-for-it-weightless following an Indiana Jones sequel. Yet if, as I suspect, many reviewers elect to carve up Always, the film will pick up its devotees - now or down the road. [22 Dec. 1989, p.1D]
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThis is Spielberg's weakest film since "1941."
- 50Miami HeraldBill CosfordMiami HeraldBill CosfordThe whole thing means to come down to big, round tears and mass sniffles, but though Spielberg invokes as many golden-era cliches as he can recall, he never gets the romance really working. It's tough being compared to Spielberg, and perhaps unfair if you happen to be Spielberg, but this is easily his least substantial film to date. Some tears, yes. No sparks. [22 Dec. 1989, p.G5]
- 40The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinGentle and moving as it means to be, Always is overloaded. There is barely a scene here that wouldn't have worked better with less fanfare.
- 40NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenSpielberg doesn't differentiate between the good ideas in the script and the bad ones: everything is given an emphatic, production-number treatment... His ultraslick, seductive technique can be a pleasure to watch in itself, but it can't disguise the fact that "Always" is a decidedly uneternal fantasy. [1 Jan. 1990, p.60]
- 38The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottTo report that Always will make you cry is not esthetically saying much; slicing up onions has the same effect. Leslie Halliwell's one-word summation of the forties version applies to Spielberg's update for the nineties: "icky." [26 Dec. 1989]
- 30Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyAlways is an unfulfilled promise, a plummeting dove.