While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy, inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
There's a lot here. But with a classic like Cuckoo's Nest, too much is never enough.
– Chris Nashawaty,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Sep 2010
rotten:
One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest is an earnest attempt to make a serious film. But in the end the movie backs away from both the human reality and the cloudy but potent symbolism that Ken Kesey found in the asylum.
– Richard Schickel,
TIME Magazine,
20 Feb 2009
fresh:
Viewed 30 years after its release, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest remains a very good motion picture, although one that perhaps just misses the pinnacle of greatness where its reputation suggests it resides.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
4 Nov 2008
fresh:
Jack Nicholson stars in an outstanding characterization of Ken Kesey's asylum anti-hero, McMurphy, and Milos Forman's direction of a superbly-cast film is equally meritorious.
– A.D. Murphy,
Variety,
19 Feb 2008
fresh:
Jack Nicholson plays McMurphy as if he were born to it, and the supporting cast provides fine, detailed performances.