Wuthering Heights Storms to a Fresh Rotten Tomatoes Score

Emerald Fennell took a big swing with Wuthering Heights, and the early noise made it clear this one would be a conversation-starter. Now the critics have weighed in, and the picture is coming into focus: bold, beautiful, and very much its own thing.

The scorecard (so far)

As of now, Wuthering Heights sits at 73% on Rotten Tomatoes from 53 critic reviews. The throughline in the reactions: it looks stunning and throws out a lot of the rulebook. That last part is exciting to some and heresy to others.

"Wuthering Heights... is her best film to date — a heaving, rip-snortingly carnal good time at the cinema. It is also a gooey, grimy mess."

That love-it-and-side-eye-it-at-the-same-time vibe pops up a lot. A number of reviewers are calling this Fennell’s strongest work yet, even over Saltburn and Promising Young Woman. Others argue she keeps the pulse where it counts: Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. That focus, they say, is enough juice to power the 136-minute runtime.

"For viewers willing to embrace a stylised, modernised interpretation, it offers a lurid, provocative and strangely compelling ride."

Where the pushback lands

This adaptation does not try to color inside Emily Bronte’s lines, and that is exactly where the friction starts. Some critics say key characters have been carved out and the plot reshaped so aggressively it barely resembles the book. Casting is another flashpoint: one review calls out the choice to have the story’s most pivotal role played by a white Australian actor rather than a performer of color, a long-running point of debate around Heathcliff.

Even among the negative takes, there’s admiration for the craft. A few critics described the film as gorgeous to behold but emotionally thinner than it looks. One complained of a style-over-substance approach; another shrugged at what they saw as a chemistry-free central romance led by curiously uninteresting main characters — a dealbreaker in a story built on all-consuming love and hate.

• Praise: lush, arresting visuals; big, committed direction; a laser focus on Catherine and Heathcliff that makes the reimagining feel purposeful; a fearless, modern charge that some find Fennell’s best yet.
• Pushback: heavy deviations from the novel, including cutting or minimizing key figures; questions around the casting of Heathcliff; charges that the passion looks monumental but doesn’t always land; complaints about weak chemistry between the leads.

The bottom line

If you want a museum-grade, faithful Wuthering Heights, this probably isn’t it. If you’re into Fennell smearing Gothic romance with fresh blood and mud, there’s a lot to chew on. Either way, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi — leading as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff — have people talking, which was clearly the play.