Featured Audience Ratings

• Alice S

  
  MAN! MAN! I didn't LOVE this movie, but I can certainly understand its cult status as the bitterest of the sweet, chocolate-shitting, daisy-vomiting doomed romances. I'm guessing it spawned other rich boy-poor girl-DEATH stories such as "A Walk to Remember,"… More
  MAN! MAN! I didn't LOVE this movie, but I can certainly understand its cult status as the bitterest of the sweet, chocolate-shitting, daisy-vomiting doomed romances. I'm guessing it spawned other rich boy-poor girl-DEATH stories such as "A Walk to Remember," which is also schlocky but irresistible. The screenplay boasts some nice zingers (the couple's catty meet-cute and the bad-dad-retort, "I won't give you the time of day!" "Father, you don't HAVE the time of day!"), formulaic but emotionally effective flashback structure ("She loved Mozart, Bach, Beatles, and me"), and clever match-cut storytelling (tense dinner with parents told over car ride home). Francis Lai's haunting score and the impromptu snowmance sequence are lovely wordless portraits. One gripe I have is with Ali MacGraw. I find her portrayal of Jenny completely overdone. Many of her snarky lines would've been better deadpan or flippant. Instead, every sarcastic quip is bolded, underlined, and italicized. Jenny is a quirky character that I'm sure many young men of the 70s fell in love with, but she could have used a subtler actress. I read on IMDb that the director considered Ryan O'Neal a reactor, not an actor, and that is certainly true. All of MacGraw's overacting is tempered by O'Neal's natural movements, boyishly floppy hair, and teary baby blues that exemplify how every woman should be looked at by her man. *SPOILERS* My other gripe, of course, is with the famously contentious line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," and its implication in the movie's unsatisfying dissolution. Firstly, semantics: does the line mean one should never do anything so hurtful that it warrants an apology? Or does the line mean one shouldn't have to apologize because your partner already knows you're sorry and will forgive you? I personally like the second interpretation, and it would have made a better ending. Oliver's father is clearly sorry for cutting Oliver off for marrying beneath him. He gives Oliver money no questions asked and calls around to find out it was for Jenny's treatment. He has taken steps toward reconciliation and should be forgiven. I expected Oliver to say the line, then hug his father - indicating that he understands and accepts his father's repentance.

• Jim H

  
  A preppie Harvard law student falls for a lower class music student. I don't know if "Love means never having to say you're sorry" was a cliche in 1970, but it certainly is now. It's also bullshit. So is this film. The class difference between the… More
  A preppie Harvard law student falls for a lower class music student. I don't know if "Love means never having to say you're sorry" was a cliche in 1970, but it certainly is now. It's also bullshit. So is this film. The class difference between the lovers is explored only in generalities and cliches and so are the "hard times" they experience when Oliver rejects his privilege for love. in the third act, the film doesn't reach Terms of Endearment-level maudlin, but it's close. Compelling performances by Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw can't do anything to save the fact that the film says nothing new and can only serve as fodder for an evening filled with Haagan Daz and romantic reminiscences. Overall, I don't know if it's because my own love life is tattered, but I suspect that in any mental or emotional state I would find this film to be sanctimonious nonsense that couldn't charm me unless I was drunk, high, wasted, wired, slammed, smashed, hammered, tripping, and shitfaced.

• AJ V

  
  The best romantic drama of the seventies! It's sweet, tragic, dramatic, intense, and very modern too. I loved it and if you like sad romantic dramas you will love it too. I especially loved O'Neal in this movie.

• Red L

  
  I better stop watching 40-year-old movies. When I see them today, they seem disappointing compared to today's movies, and there are a few of these 1970's era movies I have down-rated from my initial rating. Very simple script. Still you should see it - it made a big… More
  I better stop watching 40-year-old movies. When I see them today, they seem disappointing compared to today's movies, and there are a few of these 1970's era movies I have down-rated from my initial rating. Very simple script. Still you should see it - it made a big impact in the early 70's.

• Conner R

  
  It's exactly what it aspires to be, an extremely honest and believable romance drama. It has great dialogue and acting, the chemistry between Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw is what makes it work as well as it does. It's sort of the reason all movies like it since seem… More
  It's exactly what it aspires to be, an extremely honest and believable romance drama. It has great dialogue and acting, the chemistry between Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw is what makes it work as well as it does. It's sort of the reason all movies like it since seem cliched, there's no better tear jerker like this. You feel for these people and automatically relate to them.

• jay n

  
  Puerile drama with one of the worst performances, by Ali MacGraw, ever recorded on film. Somehow this was an enormous hit in its day, the mind reels as to why or how.

• Jason O

  
  My dad's favorite movie of all time. In "Love Story," a rich guy, Oliver (Ryan O'Neal), and a poor girl, Jennifer (Ali MacGraw), fall in love while both are attending Harvard University. When you see the two characters, it's hard to see how a smart talking… More
  My dad's favorite movie of all time. In "Love Story," a rich guy, Oliver (Ryan O'Neal), and a poor girl, Jennifer (Ali MacGraw), fall in love while both are attending Harvard University. When you see the two characters, it's hard to see how a smart talking music girl and a rich hockey player could possibly be right for each other, but they'll show you how it can be done. But it won't be an easy road to travel because they both have their separate problems/situations to deal with, such as Oliver's dad not being too fond of people unless they're very successful and rich. I watched "Love Story" because my dad said it was his favorite movie of all time and that it's the only movie he's ever went to the theatre to watch twice, so I thought that it really had to be a good movie. I did like "Love Story," even though I wouldn't call it one of my favorite movies of all time....I'm more the action, sci-fi, comedy, and horror movie type. "Love Story" is good because it seems realistic, just like two normal people who are real different from each other might act in a real life relationship. Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw brought their acting skills and used them in this love story of a movie. If you like love stories, I recommend purchasing "Love Story." NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2001.

• Jeremy S

  
  "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

• Leigh R

  
  That is a love story...

• Brian R

  
  Let's just say I was moved in a big way. It is one of the greatest romantic pictures I have ever seen and I like how the film doesn't camp the romance or make it too cheesy like the romantic pictures of today. After love then there is death and there is this story. Love… More
  Let's just say I was moved in a big way. It is one of the greatest romantic pictures I have ever seen and I like how the film doesn't camp the romance or make it too cheesy like the romantic pictures of today. After love then there is death and there is this story. Love Story.

• Quinto W

  
  I really liked how the characters were written and their dialogues, especially at the beginning, showed the effort put into creating believeable persons to relate to. The film can't completely escape its cheesy sentimentality (''Love means never having to say… More
  I really liked how the characters were written and their dialogues, especially at the beginning, showed the effort put into creating believeable persons to relate to. The film can't completely escape its cheesy sentimentality (''Love means never having to say you're sorry'', as famous as it is, is a very stupid and meaningless thing to say), but Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw are good enough to make you go with it.

• Erin C

  
  Some of the acting was pretty cheesy, but the story itself was adorable. Their relationship was very unique and touching. Very sad!

• Deb J

  
  So many remakes and different titles since then, All movies are are remakes of the good ones back in the day when there was acting.

• Lauren D

  
  Some of it was stupid and I hated the female character, but overall I enjoyed it.

• Daisy M

  
  Maybe it won't be a movie that everyone will like, seeing the script of Love Story was just a traditional Hollywood cliche movie.It started slow, some scenes were distracted and some of the characters were not well developed as they could have been.But the music score was… More
  Maybe it won't be a movie that everyone will like, seeing the script of Love Story was just a traditional Hollywood cliche movie.It started slow, some scenes were distracted and some of the characters were not well developed as they could have been.But the music score was amazing, one of the greatest romantic, piano music ever. The story was a simple mixture of true love and life threatening illness, and it was quite effective, and the dialogue was touching. Just the ending was real tear jerking.Acting was good, Ali McGraw as Jenny and Ryan O'Neil as Oliver, they draw you through the course of the movie, enough that you do end up caring for them.

• Sarah B

  
  I don't understand the attitudes surrounding this film. It's distinctly average, if well acted, featuring great music and compelling ideas.

• Audrey L

  
  Thought I'd watch this movie again after many years. Oh my-it's bad-the horror,the horror...

• Leo L

  
  A great romance/love movie.

Read all 18 featured audience ratings