Metacritic reviews

The sweetest and most openhearted love fable since "The Princess Bride."

The intelligence and wit of this glass-slipper heart-of-gold fantasy are shocking.

No one is expected to believe Pretty Woman . We're just supposed to enjoy it... Pretty Woman wants only to engage us for two hours, and it does. [16 Apr 1990, p.26]

Roberts handles the transition from coarse and gawky to glamorous with aplomb.

The message is plain: Men, especially rich men, have all the power. So be sure to do what they tell you, and maybe they'll treat you nicely… It's not one I like to hear. [27 Apr 1990, Arts, p.10]

The silly script lurches from one jarring, implausible moment to another, and Marshall directs like he was wearing earplugs and boxing gloves on the set.

Nothing works, except perhaps the sight of Julia Roberts' lean, well-tempered midsection and her roughly eight yards of legs that, in this frail comedy, are worked until they're almost a story point of their own. [23 Mar 1990, Calendar, p.F-14]

Proves that the Disney people can sell just about anything--including a misogynistic celebration of big business and prostitution.

Starts out as a neo-Pygmalion comedy, but the film is slow, earnest, and rhythmless.

A ticket to Pretty Woman buys you mechanical titillation and predictable twists... Old-fashioned, assembly-line moviemaking without the old panache. [2 Apr 1990, p.70]