Synopsis
Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.
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Cast
- Chris O'DonnellCharlie Simms
- Al PacinoLieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
- James RebhornMr. Trask
- Philip Seymour HoffmanGeorge Willis, Jr.
- Richard VentureW.R. Slade
- Bradley WhitfordRandy
- Sally MurphyKaren Rossi
- Michael SantoroDonny Rossi
- Gabrielle AnwarDonna
- Rochelle OliverGretchen
Recommendations
- 80
The New York Times
The good thing is that the principals and film makers make the absolute most of a conventional opportunity. - 80
Los Angeles Times
But it's essentially a tour de force for Pacino, and he sustains us through the slow passages by working with a closed-in intensity that turns each scene into a kind of mini-movie complete with its own ticking time bomb. [23Dec1992 Pg. 1] - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
By the end of Scent of a Woman, we have arrived at the usual conclusion of the coming-of-age movie, and the usual conclusion of the prep school movie. But rarely have we been taken there with so much intelligence and skill. - 75
ReelViews
If there's anything special about the film, it's that on this occasion, the emotional realism of the characters, especially Slade, is heartwrenchingly believable. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
In the end, Scent of a Woman offers little more than lumbering simulation of Rain Man's nimble magic. But Pacino's performance-scabrous, tender, ripely theatrical-is a master showman's trick. - 70
Washington Post
This is a great performance from Pacino, who has the good luck here to work with Goldman's mostly wonderful, edgy script, but it might not become a beloved one because the man he plays is such a bitter pill. - 60
Washington Post
In the end, however, when all Pacino's demons are bared, they don't add up to the poignant punchline you were set up for. The movie seems to have two or three finales too many -- a disturbing trend in all too many films of late. - 50
Austin Chronicle
There's no denying that Pacino's performance is superb. The rest of the movie plays like a bunch of inconsequentially strung together sequences.
