Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

91% Tomatometer 45 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings

With a screenplay penned by the author himself, Stanley Kubrick brings Vladimir Nabokov's controversial tale of forbidden love to the screen. Humbert Humbert (James Mason) is a European professor who relocates to an American suburb, renting a room from lonely widow Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters). Humbert marries Charlotte, but only to nurture his obsession with her comely teenage daughter, Lolita (Sue Lyon). After Charlotte's sudden death, Humbert has Lolita all to himself -- or does he?

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Lolita

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Critics Consensus

Kubrick's Lolita adapts its seemingly unadaptable source material with a sly comedic touch and a sterling performance by James Mason that transforms the controversial novel into something refreshingly new without sacrificing its essential edge.

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Critics Reviews

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Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Variety Staff Variety An occasionally amusing but shapeless film. Mar 26, 2009 Full Review Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Where Nabokov was witty, Kubrick is sometimes merely snide, but fine performances (particularly from Peter Sellers, as the ominous Clare Quilty) cover most of the rough spots. May 8, 2007 Full Review Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Geoff Andrew Time Out Far more satisfying than his later works (one hesitates to call them mere movies). Jun 24, 2006 Full Review Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Pauline Kael Partisan Review The surprise of Lolita is how enjoyable it is: it’s the first new American comedy since those great days in the 1940’s when Preston Sturges recreated comedy with verbal slapstick. Sep 11, 2023 Full Review Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault Essentially, Kubrick uses Nabokov’s story, and sexual fixation in general, for a meditation on people driven mad by what they can’t have. Rated: A Aug 30, 2022 Full Review Lolita | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Dwight MacDonald Esquire Magazine Lolita is a disappointment because we have a right to expect more from Kubrick (he may come through with his next, which I am told is to be a satirical treatment of the nuclear "defense" problem). May 6, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Stephen C LOL, 2 hours and 32 minutes of comedy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/23/25 Full Review Makemake P Truly horrifying. Captures raw human depravity. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/14/25 Full Review William M I am a big Nabokov fan. Lolita was the first of his novels that I read, shortly after it came out, and was blown away. I was also big Stanley Kubrick fan; beginning with Paths of Glory. But when I heard Kubrick was making a movie based on Nabokov's novel I thought it was doomed to fail. Lolita is not the least bit cinematic - it has virtually no plot and the subject matter is disgusting. What saves it from being pure trash is the hilarious and utterly original first-person narration. So when I went to see the movie my expectations were pretty low. But, as it turned out, not low enough. I had to force myself to sit though it. The opening five or ten minutes (that seem like an hour) is almost unwatchable. A long drawn-out unfunny Peter Seller's "shtick" (which was probably largely improvised] that gives the rest of the movie (shown in flashback) away. But that was decades ago. Less than half an hour ago, I re-watched this opening sequence on TCM. It was even worse than I remembered. BTW James Mason, who has absolutely no comic chops, is horribly miscast. This was the teenage Sue Lyons (who played Lolita) movie debut and the critics went crazy over her. If the name doesn't ring a bell the fault is not yours. Her promising movie career went exactly where I thought it would go - straight down the toilet. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/25/25 Full Review Audience Member sometimes books should stay books. Rated 0.5/5 Stars • Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/25 Full Review D. Hunter P It was an interesting and different adaptation from the book. The beats are still there and the acting is very, I think, intentionally over the top. I do have to agree just a little that showing part of the end of the book at the beginning did ruin a little bit of the suspense. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/25 Full Review thiago s filme mais ou menos, o roteiro é mais ou menos, o filme temmuito dialogo para porra nenhuma, erolou muito para nada, no final o maluco queria fugir com lolita e não consegui nada, o filme é praticamente doentio, o cara quer ficar com uma menor de idade, que porra é essa. Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 11/24/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

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Stanley Kubrick Director James Mason Prof. Humbert Humbert Shelley Winters Charlotte Haze Sue Lyon Lolita Peter Sellers Clare Quilty Marianne Stone Vivian Darkbloom

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Synopsis With a screenplay penned by the author himself, Stanley Kubrick brings Vladimir Nabokov's controversial tale of forbidden love to the screen. Humbert Humbert (James Mason) is a European professor who relocates to an American suburb, renting a room from lonely widow Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters). Humbert marries Charlotte, but only to nurture his obsession with her comely teenage daughter, Lolita (Sue Lyon). After Charlotte's sudden death, Humbert has Lolita all to himself -- or does he?

Director
Stanley Kubrick

Producer
James B. Harris

Screenwriter
Vladimir Nabokov

Distributor
MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Criterion Collection, Warner Home Vídeo

Production Co
Harris-Kubrick Productions, Anya, Seven Arts Productions, Transwood

Genre
Comedy, Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 13, 1962, Wide

Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 31, 2008

Runtime
2h 32m
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