70
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanEichhorn, who should have had a much bigger career, is luminous as the sad-eyed heroine, while Heard pulls off the showy role - especially in a climax that finds him rampaging through a posh party at the Cord estate in search of justice.
- 100Cutter's Way is a movie that starts yielding up its real treasures around the third viewing, so stick with it (you'll hate the ending first time out). I've seen it perhaps 30 times – it may be my favourite American movie – and, unlike its three broken leads, I have still yet to hit bottom. For once, the word is appropriate: masterpiece.
- A fiercely powerful film... An inspiring film, it is constructed like a thriller; but instead of reaching for thrills, it leaves them in the background and concentrates on the complexities of its characters.
- 100Time OutTime OutCzech director Ivan Passer’s use of late-summer light is rich and entrancing, while Bridges and Heard give their all: the latter delivers a performance of spectacular rage and intensity. The result is nothing less than a modern masterpiece, and a film ripe for rediscovery.
- 100Total FilmPhilip KempTotal FilmPhilip KempThe three leads are on outstanding form, while Jack Nitzsche's score shimmers with foreboding.
- 90The TelegraphDavid GrittenThe TelegraphDavid GrittenIt’s an underrated classic.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawAn unclassifiably brilliant gem of American independent film-making.
- 75Slant MagazineJake ColeSlant MagazineJake ColeOne of the final triumphs of the New Hollywood era, Cutter’s Way belongs on the shelf of fans of both Cassavetian hyperreal melodrama and Pakula-esque political thrillers.
- 50Cutter's Way suffers from a terminal case of creative indecision. With any number of initially intriguing plot lines, director Ivan Passer and scripter Jeffrey Alan Fiskin never come close to shedding light on what, if anything, this picture is really about. Jeff Bridges, John Heard and Lisa Eichhorn all deliver exceptionally fine topline performances, but their efforts seem wasted in such a weak vehicle.