86
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonKidman grabs center stage and never relinquishes the position. Playing mercilessly against her pinup girl image, she's an unforgettable, comic archetype—a more slapsticky corollary to William Hurt's bumbling, handsome newscaster in "Broadcast News."
- 100Film.comJohn HartlFilm.comJohn HartlScathingly hilarious...To Die For could be the "Dr. Strangelove" of its genre, a movie that puts even John Waters' somewhat similar "Serial Mom" in the shade.
- Brilliantly written by Buck Henry, "To Die For" works on several levels. As a satire on the American obsession with celebrity and fame, the movie is nuanced and haunting. And for the most part, Van Sant keeps the tone chillingly light and ironic.
- 90Film.comSean MeansFilm.comSean MeansThe cast of To Die For is perfect all around, but Kidman trumps them all with a gutsy, uncompromising performance...It's an audacious performance for a movie that dares to be nasty.
- 88Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonKidman crafts a characterization of breathtakingly controlled artifice, dead-on timing, dizzyingly precise humor. Her part is a knockout--in every sense of the word. [6 Oct 1995]
- 88USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkNot since Tuesday Weld in "Pretty Poison" has an actress so played off her fresh-faced beauty for such pointed black-comic effect.
- 80VarietyDavid RooneyVarietyDavid RooneyDelivers continuous pinpricks of irreverent humor and subversive cultural commentary.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleThe murder plot is a cheap turn that says nothing about the nature of Suzanne's ambition. Without Suzanne's media-obsession as its focus, To Die For becomes just another fairly good black comedy.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThis movie is no masterpiece, but it is an electric, colorful production that roasts the media and those obsessed by it over an open flame.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineNicole Kidman does the best work of her career in a character that seems to fit her tighter than pantyhose. Swathed in camera-friendly pastels, she's dead from the neck up (a scene with uncredited George Segal confirms that) but she's got legs like scissors, ambition like a knife, and a will of pure steel.