Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

63% Tomatometer 30 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings

When wealthy Harvard University law student Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal) meets Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw), a middle-class girl who is studying music at Radcliffe College, it's love at first sight. Despite the protests of Oliver's father (Ray Milland), the young couple marry. Oliver finds a job at a legal firm in New York City, but their happy life comes crashing down when it's discovered that Jenny has a terminal illness. Together, they try to cope with the situation as best they can.

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Love Story

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Critics Consensus

Earnest and determined to make audiences swoon, Love Story is an unabashed tearjerker that will capture hearts when it isn't inducing eye rolls.

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Critics Reviews

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Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Stefan Kanfer TIME Magazine Ryan O'Neal gives the character of the neon scion a warmth and vulnerability entirely missing from the bestseller. Feb 8, 2018 Full Review Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (2) William Thomas Empire Magazine MacGraw never could act her way out of a paper bag, but she dies very prettily, cuing Oscar winning violins and O'Neal's Big Scene. Rated: 3/5 Jan 30, 2012 Full Review Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Variety Staff Variety Love Story is an excellent film. Dec 19, 2007 Full Review Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Rachel Wagner Rachel's Reviews (YouTube) Some love stories just don't hold up well Feb 28, 2024 Full Review Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Zita Short InSession Film The production values here are not very strong as the imagery is bland and unmemorable, the costumes don’t tell you anything about the characters and the production designers seemingly forgot what it was like to be a university student. Feb 9, 2023 Full Review Love Story | Rotten Tomatoes (6) James Kendrick Q Network Film Desk It wears its heart on its sleeve and makes no apologies (remember what love means ...), and more than anything that is what audiences responded to then and continue to respond to today. Rated: 2.5/4 Mar 8, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

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Ron R In some ways a romantic story worthy of the title. But the overall quirkiness of Ali's character is overdone. The overall alacrity of the way in which Oliver dispatches his father who clearly loves him is so tragic leaving him utterly destitute emotionally is just unbelievable. Tragedy on many levels, and yet a beautiful love story. In the end Oliver's inability to redeem himself is the worst of all. Honestly I think it's just a bad script with a lot of potential in the back stories. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 10/09/24 Full Review Finn I I enjoyed the movie! My only complaint was I thought it was quite abbreviated at the start and end. I would have liked to see more of them meeting each other initially, and also more of the difficult scenes at the end. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/05/24 Full Review John U I just saw it after all these years and wish I had not. The acting is abysmal. Storyline is weak. I know it's a great tearjerker, but it's a terrible movie. It is a good tearjerker and just saying that is a buzz kill, but that's the only good thing to say about this movie. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/24 Full Review Jeff M There's a school of thought that some movies can only be appreciated at the time they are released - they live in their own plastic bubble. I tend to think that a truly great movie is timeless and holds up whether it's seen on opening night or 50 years later. Upon its release, this film was lavished with awards, including 7 Oscar nominations, and audiences flocked to it in droves. The phrase "love means never having to say you're sorry" became one of the most recognized lines in recent cinema history. Watching it 51 years later, in my opinion, it almost feels like a parody of itself. Multiple scenes feel like feminine hygiene commercials. The lines feel overly scripted, particuarly in the first half of the movie. Practically every word out of MacGraw's mouth is a smart alleck retort, and though a lovely screen presence, her acting is pretty lacksadaisical, to be kind. She and O'Neal do share a nice chemistry, I'll give it that much. But so much of this movie is overly sentimental drivel, and the scenes involving O'Neal and his father are awkward to the extreme. The deathbed scenes feel almost like an after thought, and I felt not a moment of sincere emotion. I hate to be blunt, but MacGraw's demise felt more like a relief than anything else. I appreciated the scenes involving John Marley as MacGraw's dad - he gives easily the best performance in the movie. And I know the score has become legendary, but I found it irritating and monotonous. Not feeling a lot of love for this love story. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/24 Full Review Joel H I know the famous line from Love Story is "love means never having to say you're sorry," but I think everyone who made this the highest-grossing movie of 1970 owes the rest of us an apology. This is a melodramatic mess. Jenny (Ali MacGraw) is so aggressively antagonistic that I have no idea what Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) sees in her, and Oliver is awful to Jenny in return. They're an unlikeable couple. And aside from the film being completely drenched in sap, it also features choppy editing, cheesy overacting, and stilted soap opera dialogue. It's no wonder this movie has been mostly forgotten to time. Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/24 Full Review Richard C Gripping story at times with memorable theme song. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Arthur Hiller Director Ali MacGraw Jennifer Cavalleri Ryan O'Neal Oliver Barrett IV Ray Milland Oliver Barrett III Katharine Balfour Mrs. Barrett John Marley Phil Cavalleri
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Love Story

Love Story: Official Clip - Oliver and His Father Love Story: Official Clip - Oliver and His Father 1:14 Love Story: Official Clip - I Like Your Body Love Story: Official Clip - I Like Your Body 1:39 Love Story: Official Clip - Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry Love Story: Official Clip - Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry 1:46 Love Story: Official Clip - Deeper in Love Love Story: Official Clip - Deeper in Love 1:50 Love Story: Official Clip - Be Strong and Merry Love Story: Official Clip - Be Strong and Merry 1:34 Love Story: Official Clip - Screw Paris Love Story: Official Clip - Screw Paris 2:05 Love Story: Official Clip - You Want to Marry Me? Love Story: Official Clip - You Want to Marry Me? 2:04 Love Story: Official Clip - Our Two Souls Love Story: Official Clip - Our Two Souls 2:12 Love Story: Official Clip - Jenny Is Dying Love Story: Official Clip - Jenny Is Dying 2:04 Love Story: Official Clip - The Courage to Care Love Story: Official Clip - The Courage to Care 1:13 View more videos

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Love Story

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Synopsis When wealthy Harvard University law student Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal) meets Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw), a middle-class girl who is studying music at Radcliffe College, it's love at first sight. Despite the protests of Oliver's father (Ray Milland), the young couple marry. Oliver finds a job at a legal firm in New York City, but their happy life comes crashing down when it's discovered that Jenny has a terminal illness. Together, they try to cope with the situation as best they can.

Director
Arthur Hiller

Producer
Howard G. Minsky

Screenwriter
Erich Segal

Distributor
Paramount Pictures

Production Co
Paramount Pictures

Rating
PG

Genre
Romance, Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 16, 1970, Original

Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2011

Runtime
1h 39m

Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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