It's a Wonderful Life achieves a fine balancing act between pathos and feel-good that is delivered by an outstanding cast.
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04/17/01
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
94
%
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Reviews Counted:52
Fresh:49
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8.6/10
Consensus: The holiday classic to define all holiday classics, It's a Wonderful Life is one of a handful of films worth an annual viewing.
Theatrical Release:14-12-2007
Synopsis: A good but slightly ineffectual man tries to off himself after an error that really wasn't his fault. In Christmas Carol fashion, his crusty-but-lovable guardian angel shows up to give him a tour... [More]
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell
Director: Frank Capra
Reviews for It's a Wonderful Life
Top CriticYou'd have to possess a very hard heart not to find something to love in this story.
11/27/07
Top CriticIt’s a gem for any time of the year and, as such, a vital part of any film fan’s collection.
01/01/00
Top CriticA genuine American classic.
10/18/08
Top CriticThe story not only stands strong half a century later, but it continues to show up today's formulaic Hollywood films for the vacuous use of celluloid that they are.
12/10/01
Regardless of whether or not you believe in angels, it's a wonderful movie.
06/24/06
Top CriticNo review available.
12/26/04
This great American fable is buoyed by its unwavering faith in the wealth of the human spirit.
01/01/00
Not only as one of the best Christmas movies, but THE Christmas movie.
12/23/05
If you can separate - or rescue - It's a Wonderful Life from its niche as a Christmas classic, you might discover a film that swings wildly from noirlike starkness to saccharine bathos.
12/12/08
This sentimental perennial is a holiday chestnut.
03/10/03
No review available.
01/21/03
That the picture will be one of the important exhibition ventures of 1947 is assured. With the Capra and cast names, it can't miss such an exalted niche.
06/05/02
Top CriticAs warm and comforting as a scarf knit by Grandma.
11/04/06
The epiphany of movie sentiment and a transcendent experience.
06/26/07
What is remarkable about It's a Wonderful Life is how well it holds up over the years; it's one of those ageless movies, like Casablanca or The Third Man, that improves with age.
01/01/00
Top CriticBy now everyone knows Frank Capra's holiday classic and the tears it so effortlessly conjures up year after year -- but it's easy to forget how truly vicious the film is, and how brilliantly James Stewart rises to the challenge.
12/17/05
Often remembered as sentimental holiday-themed 'Capra-corn'… but in fact leavened by darker themes and a more rigorous moral about self-sacrifice.
12/26/03
George Bailey and Bedford Falls never looked so good!
11/06/07
Latest News for It's a Wonderful Life
June 10, 2008:
Bob Anderson: 1933-2008 
Bob Anderson, the actor who played the younger version of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, has succumbed to cancer at the age of 75. More...
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
December 22, 2006:
RT's Top Christmas Classics -- Christmas Countdown, Day Five
Welcome to the last day of RT's Five Days of Christmas Countdown, where we serve up a different list each day of the best holiday flicks around. Today, we've got the crème de la... More...
December 15, 2005:
Critical Consensus: A Sly "Family Stone," A Towering "Kong"
This week at the movies, we have a giant ape {"King Kong"} and some yuletide dramedy ("The Family Stone"). Will the critics go bananas for these flicks? More...
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