54
Metascore
10 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90NewsweekJack KrollNewsweekJack KrollHill has never been better in shaping and pacing a movie that has the excitement, romance and resonance of the best popular art. [15 Oct 1984, p.118]
- 88Washington PostPaul AttanasioWashington PostPaul AttanasioLittle Drummer Girl is the most trenchant, chilling vision of the psychological fallout of spying since Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.
- 63Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyOverall, this is a well-crafted, carefully paced, and appropriately cerebral work -- if the intention is to ape Le Carre's writing style, that is, and like the writer, de-glamorize the spy genre. If you're a fan of the style, this film will please.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe Little Drummer Girl lacks the two essential qualities it needs to work: It's not comprehensible, and it's not involving.
- 50The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyWhat the film demonstrates most obviously is that when there is this much plot on the screen, there isn't time for actors to develop anything much in the way of plausibility of characterization.
- 50Miami HeraldMiami HeraldThe great strength of Le Carre's novel was that it twisted the psyches of the characters as it tensed their muscles. This movie muscles through the action, but it takes the psychic tension out of the twists. [19 Oct 1984, p.D6]
- 50The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelThe tragedy of these two peoples, killing each other because each has just claims to the same plot of ground, is presented with efficient, impersonal evenhandedness, so that we care about neither of them.
- 38The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottA bouillon cube, a bland and boring thing with only a meagre resemblance to its source. [23 Oct 1984]
- 25TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineCrammed into 130 minutes of screen time, Le Carre's story loses much of its motivation, and although there is plenty of action and suspense, often it seems that the action is happening in the wrong places to the wrong people.