Basic InstinctMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 34 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    Variety |

    Grade-A pulp fiction. This erotically charged thriller about the search for an ice-pick murderer in San Francisco rivets attention through its sleek style, attractive cast doing and thinking kinky things, and story, which is as weirdly implausible as it is intensely visceral. Read full review

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    The film is for horny pups of all ages who relish the memory of reading stroke books under the covers with a flashlight. Verhoeven has spent $49 million to reproduce that dirty little thrill on the big screen. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Beneath its heavy-breathing fripperies, though, Basic Instinct is mechanical and routine, a muddle of Hitchcockian red herrings and standard cop-thriller ballistics. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    The film never makes total sense, but at its best (the first half-hour), it comes closer to solidly junky titillation than the hapless Final Analysis. [20 Mar 1992, Life, p.1D] Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The film is like a crossword puzzle. It keeps your interest until you solve it. Then it's just a worthless scrap with the spaces filled in. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Uninvolving. Even the sex is boring. Are these scenes supposed to be wildly erotic? If they are, they don't work. [20 Mar 1992, Daily Notebook, p.D1] Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    A reminder of the difference between exhilaration and exhaustion, between tension and hysteria, between eroticism and exhibitionism. The line may be fine, but it is real enough to separate the great thrillers from the also-rans. And Basic Instinct is not a great thriller. [20 Mar 1992, Calendar, p.F-1] Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    What isn't so fascinating is this movie's absurdity of motivation. No one does anything that makes sense. No one seems real. When the actual perpetrator is uncovered, there is no enlightenment as to why the killing occurred. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    The $3 million reportedly paid for Mr. Eszterhas's screenplay did not buy a coherent ending. Read full review

  • 20
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    What we have here is a movie with not just one, but a family pack of psychos. Read full review

View more reviews for Basic Instinct on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Excessive whodunit is definitely not for kids.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this film is about a murderer who kills people with an ice pick. There are many scenes involving full female nudity and male-female intercourse. The main characters drink heavily and use cocaine, and the male protagonist sexually assaults a main female character.
  • Families can talk about the choices that Detective Curran makes in the film. How might his drinking and drug use have influenced his decision-making? Families might also discuss Detective Curran's relationship with Dr. Garner. Did he treat her fairly? Was she right to risk her job for him? Parents could also talk about the depiction of Catherine Trammell. Do you think she "did it"? Do you think she cared about the detective or was just manipulating him?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Characters manipulate one another repeatedly, heavy drug use.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Graphic depictions of stabbings and gun violence. A rape.
  • sex false5 Sex: Female nudity (including full frontal), male buttocks, several instances of intercourse, S&M, stereotypical lesbian characters.
  • language false5 Language: Mostly sexual in nature.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Main characters drink and use cocaine.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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