64
Metascore
38 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe movie, in a sense, is just like Bettie's photos: all glorious surface. The Notorious Bettie Page captures, with seductive finesse, how Bettie Page happened, yet what it leaves us with is the tantalizing enigma of a girl who couldn't truly be ''bad'' because she made sex divinely delicious.
- 75The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsThe A.V. ClubKeith PhippsMol nails it, in a performance that should earn her a comeback on a Heath Ledger-like scale.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThe film takes a little time to explore the political landscape of the time, and features an Oscar-worthy lead performance.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)New York Magazine (Vulture)Its tone is semi-parodic, with lurid black-and-white cinematography and brassy, tongue-in-cheek music. But Harron stops well short of camp.
- 70The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyA lightweight retelling of Page's life, a sketch, really, which doesn't probe very deeply into Page's bizarre mixture of exhibitionism and piety. But some scenes that might have been borderline exploitation, or just corny…turn out to be ineffably beautiful.
- 70The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisPrincipally a work of gorgeous surfaces, shot mostly in silvery black-and-white film by the cinematographer Mott Hupfel, with an occasional splash of saturated color.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenThe Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenWhile Gretchen Mol delivers a delightfully exuberant lead performance, the film itself seldom goes beyond skin deep.
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyA superficial look at the '50s sex icon, picture feels like it was researched via press clippings rather than attempting a fresh rethinking of its era and provocative subject.
- 50Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanNot for nothing is this movie opening on Good Friday. It can be as boring as church. There's no snake in Bettie's Eden and no narrative to Harron's movie. It's more of an altar piece: Our Lady of the Garter Belt, the Fastidious Bettie Page.
- 50L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorWhile it's true that most of us make our way through life without a plan, the studied arbitrariness of Page's accommodating ramble from Hicksville to Smutsville doesn't make for thrilling cinema.