68
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOn Golden Pond is a treasure for many reasons, but the best one, I think, is that I could believe it. I could believe in its major characters and their relationships, and in the things they felt for one another, and there were moments when the movie was witness to human growth and change. I left the theater feeling good and warm, and with a certain resolve to try to mend my own relationships and learn to start listening better.
- 100San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleNone of these issues are fully resolved, but just enough ... and that’s what makes On Golden Pond cinema gold.
- 90The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyMr. Fonda gives one of the great performances of his long, truly distinguished career. Here is film acting of the highest order, the kind that is not discovered overnight in the laboratory, but seems to be the distillation of hundreds of performances.
- 88TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA beautifully photographed movie filled with poignancy, humor, and (of course) some superb acting.
- 80EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanOkay, so it does cloy in places, but there is truth in its fractures and its seals, a soft-shimmering landscape of real people.
- 75Chicago TribuneGene SiskelChicago TribuneGene SiskelThe biggest surprise with On Golden Pond is that the best performance in the film is not turned in by a Fonda. Rather, it is Katharine Hepburn, in a performance without gimmicks or "great scenes," who communicates so much of the film's emotional power as a portrait of the serenity and anger associated with old age.
- 50Time OutTime OutTwo of Hollywood's best-loved veterans deserved a far better swan song than this sticky confection.
- 40The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelThe kind of uplifting twaddle that traffics heavily in rather basic symbols: the gold light on the pond stands for the sunset of life, and so on and so on...A doddering valentine.
- 30Chicago ReaderDave KehrChicago ReaderDave KehrThe film exudes complacency and self-congratulation; it is a very cowardly, craven piece of ersatz art.