--- title: "My Own Private Idaho: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/my-own-private-idaho/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/my-own-private-idaho" critics_score: 68 critics_reviews: 7 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." --- # My Own Private Idaho (1991): what the critics said Critics' score 68 from 7 reviews: 5 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond warmly to My Own Private Idaho, with praise clustering around River Phoenix’s vulnerable, convincing performance and Van Sant’s visual imagination. Even less persuaded reviews find Phoenix compelling as Mike, a narcoleptic young hustler seeking affection and shelter. Supporters value the tenderness towards the characters, the attention to loneliness and the freedom from conventional plotting. Several also find humour in the film’s drifting encounters and abrupt changes of tone. The spread is wide, with the film’s formal experiments producing the sharpest disagreements. Time Out sees its mixture of surreal imagery, documentary inserts and Shakespearean echoes as holding together despite the abundance of ideas. Empire finds the script awkward and the Shakespearean detour ill-advised. The New Yorker admires the ambition but finds the result schematic and short on emotional complexity, making clear that Phoenix’s performance commands broader agreement than the film around him. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 18 October 1991. The film evocatively captures the drifting need and human comedy in the lives of two young hustlers, one narcoleptic and seeking love or shelter. It succeeds as a story about particular young men without contrived plot mechanics or Hollywood conclusions. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/my-own-private-idaho-1991) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 18 October 1991. The idiosyncratic film confounds expectations with its puckish tone and use of narcolepsy as a plot device while delivering tender moments about loss and loneliness through Phoenix's delicate performance. Van Sant's quirky sensibility holds the elements together despite occasional self-indulgence. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-18-ca-426-story.html) ## The New Yorker — Terrence Rafferty Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 30 September 1991. Van Sant takes ambitious chances in this visually imaginative but ultimately schematic film that lacks the emotional complexity of his earlier work and feels surprisingly humorless. River Phoenix gives a superb performance as the narcoleptic Mike despite the film's flaws. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/10/07/street-theatre) ## Empire — Phil Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The film is a major disappointment overall despite Van Sant's visual flair. The critic singles out River Phoenix's convincing performance as the standout element amid an awkward script and ill-advised Shakespearean detour. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/private-idaho-review/) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby 27 September 1991. Festival review. Van Sant makes a bold leap with this invigorating road movie about two male hustlers, written and acted with enormous insight and comic elan. It joins the front ranks of innovative independent American filmmaking. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/27/movies/reviews-film-festival-a-road-movie-about-male-hustlers.html) ## Time Out — WH 31 May 2022. Van Sant's third feature packs in enough ideas for three films without falling apart. It is a road movie centered on narcoleptic hustler Mike, whose journey with Scott blends surreal beauty, documentary inserts, Shakespearean echoes and remarkable emotional openness. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/my-own-private-idaho-1991) ## Variety — Variety Staff Rating **. 31 December 1990. Van Sant's idiosyncratic look at young street hustlers is an ambitious but over-reaching disappointment more interesting than conservative successes, with the Shakespearean elements falling short due to narrow acting range. Phoenix delivers a believable, compelling performance. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/my-own-private-idaho-1117793379/) ## The Ringer — K. Austin Collins Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 29 September 2016. The critic hails the film as a queer masterpiece and essential meditation on desire between men; praises its hybrid structure, natural approach, and empathetic portrayal of its characters without condescension. [Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2016/09/29/uncategorized/my-own-private-idaho-gus-van-sant-520b847ed1f) ## Paste — Tim Porter Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 31 March 2005. Praises the film's innovative visual style, River Phoenix's masterful performance, and the graceful dialogue that gives it an inimitable flavor; notes it as a Van Sant classic. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/my-own-private-idaho-dvd) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 18 July 2005. The critic finds the film more personal and less naturalistic than Van Sant's previous work, often desolate yet occasionally romantic, and praises River Phoenix's painfully committed performance as the narcoleptic hustler Mike. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/my-own-private-idaho-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © 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/my-own-private-idaho.md