Hysteria 2011

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...a movie that's finally a little too comfortable with itself. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Tanya Wexler's silly, featherweight comedy about the invention of the electric vibrator. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: A clever, quick-witted, informed and terrific movie! Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Its 95 minutes move along nicely, and Everett - languid as a cat in a sunbeam - makes his too-brief scenes into master classes of comedy. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: A broad period comedy that squanders a fascinating subject ... by refusing to see it from anything other than a modern, winking perspective. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It doesn't really know what it is. A little of this, a little of that and by the time it's done, it adds up to not much at all. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The problem with "Hysteria" is that it keeps patting itself and us on the back for knowing better. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: For a light entertainment, this romantic comedy delivers an impressive amount of feminist rhetoric and historical detail. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's as if they felt they had to work all that socially conscious stuff into the mix in order to justify the risque humor. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Director Tanya Wexler plays things broadly at times, but "Hysteria" has good fun with history while coming off far more wholesome than salacious. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Wexler makes a happy, sexually robust history lesson. And whenever Rupert Everett appears as a rich fellow who distinctly does not fancy ladies, it's a hysterical history lesson of the hilarious variety. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Hysteria never gets too preachy or ponderous, and there's something in the film to educate even the most learned viewer. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The movie also makes all the right noises about female sexual liberation. But its good intentions are undermined by sniggering jokes... Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Hopelessly antiquated, greeting with very British giggles, and without a trace of honest curiosity, the needs of the women it seeks to honor. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Gyllenhaal ... is fresh and fierce and delightful. Too bad the entire movie hadn't simply concentrated on her, and eliminated all the rest of this awkward fumbling around. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR: Hysteria, a disappointingly limp ode to the invention of the vibrator, plays like a Merchant Ivory Production of Portnoy's Complaint. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: "Hysteria" won't rock your world, but it's a perfectly good stand-in until something better comes along. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: "Hysteria," set in 1880s London, is a light comedy about a pretty dark time for the fairer sex. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Good vibrations all around. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Hysteria comes across as a rather superficial brand of art house comedy that offers moderate entertainment value but little more. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: One of the smartest, funniest and most charming movies of the year. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The performances are spot on, and I especially like the spunky Gyllenhaal... Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "Hysteria," with its period costumes and English accents, seems like a much better movie than it is. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: Dancy, Jones and Pryce are dull, while Gyllenhaal plays the spitfire with far too much spit, thumping the other characters and the audience over the head with her do-gooder crusading. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A clever love story, an amusing comedy of manners, and a smart message movie. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: As a sex-education comedy, "Hysteria" is flaccid, forced and unfunny. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: Obviously a movie about the invention of the vibrator is going to have to approach the topic with humour, but ridiculing your main characters' psychology does not build dramatic tension. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: Hysteria is a fun fling of a movie about medical science at its shakiest. Literally. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: There's nothing strictly wrong with any of this, except for the fact that even a buttoned-down period piece like Topsy-Turvy feels sexier. Read more

Greg Quill, Toronto Star: Ostensibly a story about sexual liberation, Hysteria needs a thrill worthy of its intended good vibrations. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Despite its titillating subject matter, Hysteria is only mildly stimulating. The final third of the story meanders during a tedious trial and clumsy speechifying. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Proceeds as a tedious, clumsy diddle, constantly reminding viewers how much progress has been made since the Victorian era. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It's happy to get the big facts broadly right, as long as it's allowed to have a little fun with the rest. Read more