Critic Reviews
77
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
13(72%)
mixed
5(28%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 18 Critic Reviews
100
The film itself is invigorating - written, directed, and acted with enormous insight and comic elan. [27 Sept 1991]
100
It gets you below the emotional belt in a searing, delicate way. No movie this year approaches such magnificent imagery, such delectable poetry.
100
Beautifully wrought, darkly funny and finally devastating, My Own Private Idaho almost single-handedly revives the notion of personal filmmaking in the United States. [18 Oct 1991]
90
The style is so eclectic that it may take some getting used to, but Van Sant, working from his own story for the first time, brings such lyrical focus to his characters and his poetry that almost everything works.
90
Van Sant's sensibility is wholly original, wholly fresh. "My Own Private Idaho" adds a new ingredient: a kind of boho sweetness. I loved it.
90
Before this trippy, mesmerizing movie swerves out of control, it delivers an exhilarating and challenging ride.
88
My Own Private Idaho achieves more than most movies dream of attempting. The Shakespearian allusions aside, Van Sant has essentially remade "Of Mice and Men" for the nineties, with Mike as the "mouse," Scott as the "man." It is the mouse who roars.
88
There is no mechanical plot that has to grind to a Hollywood conclusion, and no contrived test for the heroes to pass; this is a movie about two particular young men, and how they pass their lives.
80
Van Sant casts a gently hypnotic spell that is not easily forgotten.
78
It's a daredevil's ride that keeps you glued with fascination.
