--- title: "The Prince of Tides: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-prince-of-tides/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-prince-of-tides" critics_score: 62 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 Prince of Tides (1991): what the critics said Critics' score 62 from 9 reviews: 5 positive, 2 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics like it, and almost all of them like Nick Nolte. Five of the nine reviews are positive, and the praise gathers around the same two things: Nolte’s performance as Tom, which even the harsher reviews single out as the film’s anchor, and Streisand’s handling of Pat Conroy’s large novel. The critics writing on release find her direction assured and unfussy, trimming the book to a lean, old-fashioned romance and stepping back as an actress to let Nolte carry it. The reservations are about melodrama and the spread is wide. Empire calls it an ambitious but messy sprawl, with too much family trauma, therapy and romance for one film and an irritating subplot about the son. The New Yorker finds the ideas about healing banal. The two negative reviews, Time Out and Slant Magazine, arrive decades later and find the whole thing camp, dated and prettified. The pattern is plain: the kindest reviews are mostly the earliest ones. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 3.5/4. 24 December 1991. Streisand proves herself a real director with this assured, serious love story focused on deeper emotional wounds rather than simple romance. Nick Nolte delivers an Oscar-caliber performance as the troubled protagonist whose relationships drive the healing. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/prince-of-tides-1991) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 25 December 1991. Streisand expertly pares down the sprawling novel into a lean, gratifying film and locates its salient emotional elements. She gets out of the way as an actress to let Nick Nolte's superlative performance as Tom anchor the story. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/25/movies/review-film-prince-of-tides-sidesteps-book-s-pitfalls.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1991. This is a deeply moving exploration of a dysfunctional Southern family, lovingly crafted with Nick Nolte giving the performance of a lifetime at its center. Streisand marks every frame with intensity and care as both director and actress in the heartfelt emotional core. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/the-prince-of-tides-1200428685/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 25 December 1991. Streisand delivers handsome, seamless mainstream direction in the traditional Hollywood style, turning the vast novel into an old-fashioned romance. Nick Nolte gives the most moving performance of his career as the central character. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-25-ca-781-story.html) ## Empire — Barry McIlheney Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The film is an ambitious but messy sprawl that tries to pack too much Southern family trauma, psychotherapy and romance into its runtime. It is elevated by Nick Nolte's standout performance as the troubled coach, though Streisand's direction falters after the central affair begins and a subplot involving her character's son proves irritating. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/prince-tides-review/) ## The New Yorker — Terrence Rafferty Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 20 January 1992. The film is a big, earnest psychoanalytic soap opera that plays better on screen than the novel thanks to Streisand's smooth, canny direction and economical pacing. It remains limited by the banality of its ideas about healing from dysfunctional family patterns, though Nolte carries the weight with grace. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/01/27/fixed-orbits) ## Slant Magazine — Keith Watson Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 26 July 2020. The critic finds the film unabashedly melodramatic yet psychologically complex, praising the restoration's visual quality while faulting over-the-top performances, corny subplots, and a prettified style that undercuts the story's emotional depth. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review-barbra-streisand-the-prince-of-tides-on-criterion-blu-ray/) ## Time Out — BC Fi1m's normalised score 25/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic finds the adaptation of Pat Conroy's novel overly melodramatic and lacking the sophistication of a Douglas Sirk film, with Streisand's direction pushing it into camp territory reminiscent of Joan Crawford vehicles. Flashbacks to childhood trauma and the central romance are highlighted as excessive and dated. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-prince-of-tides) ## Collider — Andrea M. Ciriaco Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 5 May 2024. The critic praises Streisand and Nolte's performances and their on-screen chemistry as the highlight. The film is seen as a reminder of the complexity of romance even when it doesn't end happily. [Read the review](https://collider.com/barbra-streisand-movies-ranked/) --- © 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-prince-of-tides.md