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Avg. Critic Score: 73 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 100
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    Wickedly funny. In fact, Heathers may be the nastiest, cruelest fun you can have without actually having to study law or gird leather products. If movies were food, Heathers would be a cynic's chocolate binge. Read full review

  • 100
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    More than just one of the best movies so far this year, it is a revolution in young-adult entertainment. Read full review

  • 100
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    It's shockingly funny - you don't sit there deciding to laugh. Your own laughter catches you by surprise. [14 Apr 1989] Read full review

  • 90
    Variety |

    Daniel Waters' enormously clever screenplay blazes a trail of originality through the dead wood of the teen-comedy genre. Read full review

  • 89
    Austin Chronicle | Marjorie Baumgarten

    Director Michael Lehmann made a stunning debut with this sharp satire of teen cliques. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    It's a tough entry into the tough black-comic genre; don't be surprised if it becomes a classic. [31 March 1989] Read full review

  • 80
    Wall Street Journal | Julie Salamon

    Heathers gave me the creeps but it also made me laugh. This bizarre variation on that Hollywood staple, the teen movie, is one weird original. [30 Mar 1989 p.A12(E)] Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Elvis Mitchell

    As snappy and assured as it is mean-spirited. Its originality extends well beyond the limits of ordinary high school histrionics and into the realm of the genuinely perverse. Read full review

  • 63
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    What sets Heathers apart from less intelligent teenage movies is that it has a point of view toward this subject matter - a bleak, macabre and bitingly satirical one. Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times | Sheila Benson

    Unfortunately, director Michael Lehmann's point of view is swivel-mounted: He doesn't have the courage of his cynicism. [31 Mar 1989] Read full review

View more reviews for Heathers on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ After Columbine, this dark comedy isn't as funny.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that teens will probably want to see this pitch-black comedy, but it's better for those just exiting high school and up. This film goes to extremes portraying the cruelness of the popular crowd and the rebellion against it. The popular kids are murdered by poisoning and shooting and their suicide notes are forged. There are two more "real" attempted suicides, some self-mutilation, and bulimia. There's lots of gunplay by the main characters and one bloody scene. J.D. attempts to blow up the school and all its students with dynamite. Teens have sex (outdoors and at a college party) and speak crudely about it. Two boys are sexually aggressive. And there's plenty of harsh and homophobic language.
  • Families can talk about popularity, suicide, depression, and any number of hot-button teen subjects. High school is a high-anxiety microcosm of what awaits teenagers post-graduation. How do you deal with pressure successfully? How do you learn to make positive decisions?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Extreme bad behavior is intrinsic to this dark comedy. J.D. thrives on chaos and death and drags Veronica down with him. When she starts to resist him he stalks her and threatens her. High school pecking-order stereotypes are rampant. Parents and school administrators shown as bumbling and ineffective in dealing with the "suicide epidemic." Suicide notes are forged, then circulated and revered by students and faculty. One Heather uses holy water to fix her hair at a funeral. The fake suicide pact of two male athletes is staged as a gay tryst with "gay artifacts" like mineral water and played for laughs. Cow-tipping. Kids pander to TV crews in a display of public mourning and one asks for a copy of the tape for his Princeton application. A college boy and J.D. act sexually aggressive toward Veronica. One Heather throws up lunch every day. J.D.'s dad blows up buildings and gloats about it. Girl gets laughed at for attempting suicide for real and living. Veronica does learn a lesson in the end about popularity and befriends the most laughed-at girl in school.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: One poisoning where the victim falls through a glass table. Plenty of gunplay by J.D. and Veronica: at school with blanks, in the woods resulting in two deaths. J.D. and Veronica fight each other with guns, shooting off a finger; lots of blood. Dynamite is planted under bleachers of school kids at a pep rally, then strapped to and detonated by J.D. Teen suicide is a huge focus and faked suicides lead to real attempts by two students. J.D. admits that his mother probably committed suicide. His father blows up buildings. Veronica burns herself with a lighter on purpose. A Barbie is hung in Veronica's room as a threat and Veronica pretends to hang herself.
  • sex false3 Sex: Lots of teenage sex (outdoors and at a college party) and crude mentions of sex: "spin her around on my Johnson like a goddamn pinwheel." Veronica is the victim of a rumor that she had oral sex with two jocks in one night. Jocks make a nerdy student say "I like to suck big dicks" outside a church. Two jocks strip down to their boxers. Veronica is forced to kiss J.D. and a college student against her will.
  • language false5 Language: The F word is used frequently in over-the-top expressions like "f--k me gently with a chainsaw," "f--king psychotic," "stupid f--k," "they all want me as a friend or a f--k."
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Swatch, Coke, Limited, MTV, Barbie
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Veronica, J.D., Veronica's dad, and a teacher smoke. A teen smokes pot under the bleachers. High schoolers are drunk at a college party and Veronica throws up.
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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