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Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Radford remains fairly reverent toward the text and the intent. Read more
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Perplexing blend of comedy and tragedy. Read more
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune: An important, timeless and sometimes troublesome classic has been filmed successfully and at long last. Read more
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Beauty and ugliness mingle in this play, with the beauty of language ultimately triumphing. Read more
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: An exceptional example of Shakespeare on film, one that will leave audiences moved but also unsettled, in that strange way characteristic of Shakespeare's comedies. Read more
David Edelstein, Slate: Radford doesn't solve the problems of The Merchant of Venice, which nowadays is too disturbing to be played for comedy and too unresolved to qualify as tragedy or even that ever-shifting hybrid, tragicomedy. Read more
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: This is one of the best adaptations of Shakespeare I've ever seen. Pacino's amazing. Read more
Keith Phipps, AV Club: It tilts so far in one direction that the comic elements seem to come from another, lesser film. Read more
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: Radford has rendered off the comedy to find the dramatic skeleton underneath. It is an approach that works stunningly well and is perhaps the only way the play can now be done. Read more
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Pacino takes Shylock, perhaps the most insistent and troubling character in all of Shakespeare, and roots him powerfully to the ground. Read more
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Splendid film. Read more
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: Ranks as one of the most powerful recent adaptations of the bard's work. Read more
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Balanced, beguiling -- even funny. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Despite some clunky exposition and rote iambic line readings, it attains a bona fide Shakespearean vibrance. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: A lean, stripped-down and unapologetically cinematic take on Shakespeare's work, an adaptation designed at each turn to diminish the mechanics of the comedy and to explore the depths of the pathos. Read more
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The Merchant of Venice is a problematic play, but Michael Radford's new movie version passes most of the cinematic Shakespeare tests with flying colors. Read more
Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly: It all collapses under an atrocious performance by Pacino. Read more
John Anderson, Newsday: Shylock, Portia, money-lending and betrayal get a little too much help from director Michael Radford. Read more
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Left us all weary, begging for a rest. Read more
Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: A queasy comedy in which Pacino burns a hole in the screen while the frivolity around him sputters. Read more
A.O. Scott, New York Times: Shakespeare's most problematic play at least with respect to modern sensitivities receives an intelligent interpretation from Michael Radford and a superb cast. Read more
Rex Reed, New York Observer: Promises more than it delivers. Read more
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A vivid, engrossing and defensible Shakespeare adaptation, a period piece that truly has a feel for a time long past -- and a place and attitude that are not. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Shylock is an intense, passionate character in a great play, and Radford's film does them justice. Read more
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The give-and-take between the two veterans [Pacino and Irons] is a delight to witness. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Were it not for the stain of anti-Semitism that forever marks Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, there is little doubt that Michael Radford's brave screen adaptation would currently be in serious contention for awards. Read more
Wally Hammond, Time Out: This is Al Pacino's show, and thankfully his Shylock is absorbing enough to carry the day. Read more
Claudia Puig, USA Today: Worth seeing for its lovely Venetian settings and evocative score but most of all for Pacino's spectacular rendering of Shylock. Read more
David Rooney, Variety: Pacino is at least dynamic, something harder to say about the women in the cast. Read more
Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Even notwithstanding this version's inert blocking and awkward camera placements, The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's more crooked and hollow contraptions in any guise. Read more
Desson Thomson, Washington Post: [Al Pacino's] terrific to watch and listen to; you can't take your eyes off him. Read more
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post: For lovers of the play's language ... the losses will hurt. But as cinematic storytelling, it works. Read more