Critics score:
83 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: What could be more welcome than a classic English comedy, bristling with wit and hilarity and crammed with wonderful eccentrics? Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Mr. Schlesinger draws lively performances out of his cast and surprising variety out of the film's secondary sights, which range from a gala soiree to a heap of steaming dung. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: "Cold Comfort Farm" may be hysterically funny to regular readers of Hardy, Lawrence, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, but it won't ring many bells for the rest of us. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Malcolm Bradbury's script and John Schlesinger's direction ... between them coarsen, soften and simply lose much of Gibbons' extraordinarily sophisticated, wonderfully funny humour ... Read more

Emanuel Levy, Variety: Schelsinger's masterfully directed eccentric satire is based on Stella Gibbons' 1933 book which spoofs the serious, soul-searching, rural-set stories of writers like D.H. Lawrence and Mary Webb. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Thanks to Schlesinger's exacting direction and Malcolm Bradbury's witty, restrained script, these characters are kept more amusing than horribly pitiable. Read more