GreaseMovie Reviews

Gifts + Promos

Fandango Gift Card

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Avengers Gift Cards

Superhero fans! Don’t miss out on these Limited Edition Avengers gift cards!

Go
Avg. Critic Score: 70 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 OK for kids 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 91
    The Onion A.V. Club | Noel Murray

    Grease is a pure pop construct, fueled by movie-star poses, hit songs, and persistent audience fantasies of being an acceptable kind of "bad." Barry Gibb-penned disco theme aside, Grease doesn't really belong to any one era. It's like it's always existed. Read full review

  • 90
    The New York Times | Vincent Canby

    GREASE is not really the 1950's teen-age movie musical it thinks it is, but a contemporary fantasy about a 1950's teen-age musical-a larger, funnier, wittier and more imaginative-than-Hollywood movie with a life that is all its own. It uses the Eisenhower era - the characters, costumes, gestures and particularly, the music-to create a time and place that have less to do with any real 50's than with a kind of show business that is both timeless and old-fashioned, both sentimental and wise. The movie is also terrific fun. Read full review

  • 90
    Variety |

    Grease has got it, from the outstanding animated titles of John Wilson all the way through the rousing finale as John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John ride off into teenage happiness. Read full review

  • 75
    Boston Globe | Jay Carr

    The screen Grease seemed at the time a big, overblown version of the sassy, gritty stage musical. Now the differences seem less important. What the two versions share are sizzle and a refusal to ignore the sexual energy of an exuberant cast. Grease seems kickier now than it did 20 years ago. [27 Mar 1998, p.D6] Read full review

  • 75
    TV Guide |

    You just can't hate anything this energetic and happy. Read full review

  • 75
    Christian Science Monitor |

    Energetic, fun, lively. [19 Jun 1998, p.B2] Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    No revival, however joyously promoted, can conceal the fact that this is just an average musical, pleasant and upbeat and plastic. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Tribune | Michael Wilmington

    there are times when Grease really kicks in. I'm fond of Channing singing "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee, rotten with virginity" and then telling an imaginary Troy Donahue, "I know what you wanna do." And most of the big musical numbers work, especially the showstopper: the sunlit Danny-Sandy duet to "Summer Dreams." Greasy kid stuff it all may be, but just like rock 'n' roll, it'll probably never die. [27 Mar 1998, p.A] Read full review

  • 63
    San Francisco Chronicle | Edward Guthmann

    Grease isn't a four-star musical. It's fluffy and unimportant, and it gets tedious toward the end with the car-racing sequence that Kleiser staged in the paved-in-concrete Los Angeles River. The friskiness of the performers, the choreography by Patricia Birch and most of all Travolta's phenomenal charm give it its value. Read full review

  • 63
    San Francisco Examiner |

    Sure, it's the same trite teenage fantasy it was 20 years ago when it was first released, but somehow now the energy seems infectiously giddier, the songs zingier, the camp higher. Read full review


Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Musical phenomenon is great fun, but a bit racy.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie is full of somewhat racy material, although most of it isn't any more shocking than the content of today's teen flicks and television shows. Still, you might want to give it a quick "refresher" watch before showing it to kids under 13 to make sure you remember exactly what they'll be seeing.
  • Families can talk about how some things about high school are always the same, even if you're not singing about them in poodle skirts. Why do the Pink Ladies tease Sandy? Why does she feel like she needs to conform? What does Rizzo's song "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" convey about her personality?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Male characters view females as sex objects. One T-Bird claims that that "chicks" are "only good for one thing." Unpopular students are the butt of several jokes. Sandy and Danny act against their respective natures to try to impress each other.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: While playing sports, Danny hits two students and snaps an umpire's mask. A T-Bird draws his switchblade in preparation for a rumble.
  • sex false3 Sex: A character is briefly shown in her bra. Characters are seen making out. At the drive-in, Danny makes a pass at Sandy. Sexual activity is implied when two characters discuss a broken condom, resulting in Rizzo's fear she may be pregnant. Naked derrieres are seen when characters moon a passing car and, later, a television camera. The T-Birds discuss female anatomy, and one fellow peeks up the skirts of female students. The Pink Ladies dance around in their nighties mocking Sandy's virginity. The song "Greased Lightnin'" has strong sexual content, though the innuendo may go over the heads of younger viewers.
  • language false3 Language: Fairly mild, mostly of the sexual variety. Characters use an obscene finger gesture.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters smoke, drink, and spike the punch at the school dance.

Facebook Movie Fans