--- title: "The Fisher King: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-fisher-king/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-fisher-king" critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 9 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." --- # The Fisher King (1991): what the critics said Critics' score 75 from 9 reviews: 7 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics like The Fisher King, and the praise gathers in two places: the performances and Terry Gilliam’s set pieces. Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams are singled out again and again for playing it grounded rather than large, with Mercedes Ruehl and Amanda Plummer close behind. The waltz through Grand Central Station is the scene almost everyone names, and several reviews find the film funnier and more touching than a story about redemption on the streets of Manhattan has any right to be. The reservations are about shape. Even the warmer reviews call the plot wayward, and the cooler ones go further: Roger Ebert finds it rambling, overlong and arbitrarily twisting, while Slant thinks the script cloying and the sentiment numbing at 138 minutes. The New York Times and Variety sit in between, admiring individual scenes more than the whole and finding the final stretch mechanical. The spread is moderate, with no outright dismissals; notably, the reviews from 1991 are cooler than those written since. ## The Times — Kate Muir Rating ★★★★☆. 16 June 2017. The search for the Holy Grail reaches peak insanity in this wild, redemptive ride through two men’s interconnected lives. Terry Gilliam’s direction takes the viewer inside Perry’s addled mind with memorable surreal sequences like commuters waltzing in Grand Central Station. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/film-review-the-fisher-king-1991-wmxvhnzjs) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic finds the plot wayward but praises Gilliam's film as mostly funny and exhilarating, a nightmarish yet romantic study of loneliness, lunacy, despair and violence that is spectacularly visual. The actors, especially Bridges and Plummer, are given space and respond admirably, making this modern fairytale scary, touching, often hilarious and surprisingly enchanting. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-fisher-king) ## Empire — Jo Berry Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). The critic calls the film an original and touching mix of fantasy and melodrama that is well worth seeing, praising its vivid set pieces such as the waltz in Grand Central Station and strong performances from Jeff Bridges and Mercedes Ruehl. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/fisher-king-review/) ## The AV Club — Jesse Hassenger Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 26 August 2014. The critic argues that the pairing of Robin Williams and Terry Gilliam brings out the best in both artists in this buddy comedy, with strong grounded performances from Williams, Bridges, and others that avoid over-the-top excess while finding beauty in intimate character moments. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/somehow-robin-williams-plus-terry-gilliam-does-not-equ-1798271589) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 September 1991. Gilliam and screenwriter LaGravenese use irreverence and satire to make a potentially mawkish redemption story work, delivering a big, messy, exuberant film that is better scene-by-scene than as a whole. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/22/movies/film-view-the-fisher-king-is-wise-enough-to-be-wacky.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1990. The film features two actors at the top of their form in a compelling, well-directed story that delineates Manhattan's social extremes, with lively scripting and memorable scenes, though the final stretch feels mechanical. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/the-fisher-king-1200428717/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 20 September 1991. The film is a rambling, eccentric mix of urban grit, fantasy, redemption arcs, and excess that includes strong individual sequences and performances but ultimately feels disorganized and overlong with too many arbitrary twists. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-fisher-king-1991) ## Slant Magazine — Clayton Dillard Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 6 April 2023. The critic views Gilliam’s visually inventive film as getting a phenomenal 4K UHD upgrade from Criterion, but finds the ungainly 138-minute prestige Hollywood product undermined by a cloying script that mixes the fantastic and sentimental to numbing effect. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-fisher-king-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-terry-gilliam/) ## The Skinny — Ian Schultz Rating ★★★★. 6 July 2017. Gilliam delivers a strong narrative-driven drama that showcases his imaginative style without overreliance on visuals. The lead performances from Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges, along with Mercedes Ruehl's Oscar-winning turn, stand out as highlights. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/the-fisher-king) --- © 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/the-fisher-king.md