--- title: "Field of Dreams: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/field-of-dreams/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/field-of-dreams" critics_score: 74 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Field of Dreams (1989): what the critics said Critics' score 74 from 10 reviews: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics take to it. Eight of ten come out in favour, several treating the film as a fable in the old Hollywood manner, using baseball as a way for fathers and sons to make peace. Kevin Costner is credited more than once with carrying the whole thing; Amy Madigan is noted for making the couple believable, and James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster draw particular mention, Lancaster’s late turn especially. Many say the film turns sentiment into feeling rather than simply trading on it. The reservations cluster on the script. Some find the aphorisms cloying and the sentimentality laid on thick, and one or two see the machinery working when it should be hidden. The spread is wide, from full marks to outright dismissal. The New Yorker is the lone hard dissent, calling the film manipulative and clichéd and objecting to its characters being flattened into feel-good types. Reviews written years after release are, if anything, fonder than those written at the time. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 21 April 1989. The critic praises the film's brave, Capra-esque embrace of fantasy and dreams centered on baseball as a symbol of innocence and redemption. Costner and Madigan ground the story as a believable couple sharing visions, with strong supporting turns from Jones and Lancaster. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/field-of-dreams-1989) ## The New York Times — Caryn James Rating Critic's Pick. 21 April 1989. The film is lauded as an idealistic work that turns sentimentality into true emotion through smart writing, beautiful filming, and perfect acting. It treasures American icons like baseball and farmlands while carrying their emotional weight into the 1980s. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/21/movies/review-film-a-baseball-diamond-becomes-the-stuff-of-dreams.html) ## Time Out — CM Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The film is often beautiful and uses baseball as a metaphor for father-son bonding without sentimentality. It examines the ideological conflict between the 1960s and 1980s while balancing whimsy with gravity through humour and strong performances. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/field-of-dreams) ## Empire — Mat Snow Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic finds the film a resonant fable about reconciliation, lost innocence and second chances that updates classic Hollywood magic. The healing climax scene against the cornfield at sunset is singled out as particularly moving. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/field-dreams-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Michael Wilmington Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 April 1989. The review calls it one of the most heartfelt major-studio films in recent memory, presenting baseball as a sacrament for generational reconciliation. However, it notes something tentative and uncertain in the execution, making the magic trick visible. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-21-ca-2278-story.html) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Duane Byrge Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 17 April 1989. The critic finds the film a big-hearted, fanciful story about life more than baseball that will divide viewers but succeeds thanks to Kevin Costner's leg-it-out intensity and kidlike enthusiasm. Costner's performance carries the film past its mechanical moments, with strong support from the cast and technical elements evoking a Spielberg glow. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/field-dreams-review-1989-movie-996231/) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1989. The film is described as alternately affecting and affected, a fable of redemption using baseball's mythos. Despite a script with cloying aphorisms and sentimentality, it sustains a dreamy mood distilling baseball to its essence of innocence. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1988/film/reviews/field-of-dreams-1200427989/) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 25/100 (inferred from the text). 24 April 1989. The critic calls the film a 'crock' and a manipulative, overly sentimental fantasy that strains credulity while playing on audience emotions. She singles out the sincere but clichéd execution by writer-director Phil Alden Robinson and the way it reduces complex characters to simplistic, feel-good archetypes. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1989/05/01/fascination) ## Den of Geek — Simon Brew Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 July 2015. The critic considers Field of Dreams one of his all-time favorite films and Kevin Costner's best. He singles out its emotional resonance, particularly the father-son relationship and the quiet power of the ending. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/why-field-of-dreams-gets-me-every-time/) ## HeyUGuys — Jon Lyus Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 29 May 2009. The critic loved the film for its heart and ability to evoke nostalgia and emotion without cynicism. He singles out Burt Lancaster's final performance as particularly memorable and magical. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/video-vault-field-of-dreams/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/field-of-dreams.md