David Denby

“Hoffman and Jessica Lange provide a lot of the heart. Dustin Hoffman has become so redoubtable a star because he embodies vulnerability and drive in perfect proportion. He has the knack of making everything he does seem perilous, and so audiences feel protective of him and root for him (the one time they couldn’t—when he played a slimy habitual criminal in Straight Time, one of his best performances—the movie bombed.) Lange may be heading for the same kind of stardom. Slipping at her white wine, depressed and wistful yet rapturously beautiful, Lange is soft and curvy, with an easy swiveling roll to her hips as she walks. She’s like Marilyn Monroe with brains, Kim Novak with class; she doesn’t project what those two icons did—that intoxication with their own beauty that was as infuriating as it was provocative; she’s responsive and concentrated, using her looks to create a character.”

David Denby
New York, Dec 27, 1982-Jan 3, 1983