Looking at how the Los Angeles Times is now singing praises of Scent of a Woman, this is indeed a very interesting situation. Ever since the Golden Raspberry Awards—or more precisely, since the release of Hudson Hawk in May of 1991 the American media had been denouncing Hugo with harsh words. They believed that Hugo had completely ruined his own talent with alcohol and drugs. The once dazzlingly brilliant actor who had stunned audiences in Dead Poets Society had now completely fallen. Hugo's tearful breakdown at the Razzies only pushed this wave of negativity to its peak.
In this situation, people had almost forgotten that Hugo didn't just have Dead Poets Society under his belt. His earlier works like Dune, Silver Bullet, and The Chocolate War were all solid and powerful productions otherwise Hugo wouldn't have such loyal fans like Alex and Meredith. You have to understand, Hugo didn't rise to fame by relying on his looks; he carved out his place with real strength.
But amidst the flood of negative reviews, naturally no one cared about these facts. This also affected the early marketing of Scent of a Woman. From the overwhelmingly pessimistic voices in the media, it was clear how little faith they had.
Now, the film has been released, and the media has immediately changed its tone. Because Hugo has once again proven himself with an outstanding performance, awakening the public's memories of his past, and drawing sighs of sentiment—"Ah, we all forgot that Hugo rose to prominence through his acting skills." And so, the praises for the movie, for Al, and for Hugo have surged like a tide.
Scent of a Woman feels like a giant slap in the face; all the media outlets that had badmouthed it are now voluntarily turning the other cheek, willingly accepting the blow, and then joyfully breaking out into song in praise of the movie.
The first wave of reviews came right after the premiere, and the second wave followed the official limited release of the film.
Scent of a Woman chose Friday, October 16th, to begin screening in twenty theaters. From the 17th to the 19th, professional media reviews emerged one after another, and the pattern remained consistent with the premiere the film continued to receive good news.
Entertainment Weekly's film critic Owen Gleiberman commented, "By the end of the film, Scent of a Woman still falls slightly short of Rain Man in terms of emotional impact, and fails to provoke deeper reflection, which is regrettable. But Pacino's performance, simultaneously coarse and gentle, brutal and warm, is a masterpiece of maturity. Hugo also delivers a long-awaited bright performance, and together with Pacino, carries the entire film!" Owen ultimately gave it a high score of 80 points.
Two other media outlets that also gave it 80 points were Reel Views and TV Guide, both professional film magazines. The former said, "If there's something special about this film, it's the convincing character built by Slade, and Simons' adherence to principle, both grounded in and detached from reality." The latter stated, "Thanks to Al Pacino's historic performance, Scent of a Woman becomes a movie worth recommending. And Hugo Lancaster's eye-catching performance made the film's two-and-a-half-hour length bearable of course, it would've been even better if the film had been trimmed down to two hours with a stronger ending."
One wave of praise from professional media followed another. Hollywood's two most prestigious trade journals, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, didn't miss this major moment either. These two publications are practically staples in Hollywood and are among the most influential in the industry.
Variety gave a fair score of 75 points. "The entire film is essentially Al Pacino's personal performance. Though he plays a blind man, we see more through his eyes than we do from many people with perfect vision. If you had to find one more reason to watch the movie, maybe Hugo Lancaster would count as half a reason."
The Hollywood Reporter gave a similar review: "Martin Brest injected new meaning into the film, though the lengthy and tedious runtime cut its charm in half. Fortunately, Al Pacino and Hugo Lancaster managed to make up for that loss. Pacino contributed 70% of the effort, which was enough to restore the movie to the 'worth watching' category." The score, too, was a solid 75 points.
Another professional film magazine based in New York, The Village Voice, also gave its opinion: "A stunning tango is enough to make this film a classic. Add a car chase and a speech, and that's even better. Of course, we mustn't forget Al Pacino and Hugo Lancaster." A score of 80 points is quite impressive.
It's easy to see that the entire industry's views are largely aligned: Al's brilliance, Hugo's comeback, and the overlong runtime. These themes are repeated again and again in the reviews. However, not all the feedback was praise there were still critical voices. Besides USA Today, a few other outlets also had unflattering things to say about Scent of a Woman.
The Austin Chronicle only gave a score of 50 points. "It's undeniable that Pacino's performance is unforgettable, but beyond that, the entire film is a meaningless collection of dull and tedious shots."
Rolling Stone, originally founded on music and now a comprehensive magazine, expressed its disdain with one line: "A useless clay pot." The terrible score of 38 points was simply appalling.
The Globe and Mail, a newspaper based in Toronto, Canada, also gave a 38-point deficit. "In this movie, all you see is a symbolic study, individual brilliant performances without meaning, and beautifully-shot scenes with no narrative context. There's a vacuum between the action and the setting, as if it's a hollow and empty film shot during the Ice Age."
Whether praise or criticism, the attention from so many media outlets toward Scent of a Woman was unexpected. Originally believed to be a forgotten art-house film, it now seems that everyone has turned their eyes toward it.
In this era without the internet, the media's average rating became the most direct standard for judging a film's quality. In the end, Scent of a Woman received ratings from 18 media outlets, with an overall average of 72 points not exceptionally high, but still quite impressive.
Corresponding to the media scores was the audience score. Founded in 1978, CinemaScore is distinct from professional critic ratings and represents public feedback. Generally, film critics dominate public perception of a movie, but critics often emphasize meaning over experience. Many popcorn films struggle with critics but win over audiences. Reviews only offer one single perspective to view a film, which is unreasonable. Thus, CinemaScore emerged. Its ratings come entirely from viewers after watching the movie in theaters, with no involvement from critics, representing only the audience's personal feelings.
At present, CinemaScore is also the only audience rating system quoted by professional magazines such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. CinemaScore does not use a 100-point system but is graded like a school report card, starting from A+ all the way down. When a film scores below C-, it can be considered an outright terrible work.
On CinemaScore, Scent of a Woman earned a "B+," a rating notably better than the media's overall reviews, showing that audiences were more fond of the movie.
From media praise to audience support, Scent of a Woman dispelled its pre-release underdog posture and won wide recognition and the good news didn't stop there. With the film's release, all eyes inevitably turned to the box office.
Although Scent of a Woman only screened at twenty theaters and was an art film without much box office competitiveness, once a film is released, every film company's ultimate goal is to recover costs and make a profit. Art films don't have strong box office pull, but impressive per-theater earnings are still notable not to mention the film's outstanding word-of-mouth promising a strong future in the video rental market.
After its release on October 16, news of crowds flocking to the twenty theaters where Scent of a Woman was shown surprised Universal Pictures with delight. By the end of the opening weekend, the film's per-theater box office hit $25,000 a truly eye-catching figure nearly three times the $8,000 per-theater box office that media had widely predicted before release. This number completely crushed all media forecasts! It meant that Scent of a Woman earned $500,000 at the box office in its first weekend alone.
Although $500,000 in weekend earnings wasn't enough to push Scent of a Woman into the top ten of the October third-week box office rankings, its first-place ranking in per-theater box office this week still drew a wave of media praise, and Universal Pictures made no effort to hide their joy. You have to know the film's total investment cost was only $8 million. Achieving such results in a limited release during its opening week was indeed something worth celebrating.
Critics, audiences, box office… After its release, Scent of a Woman continued to receive good news, making a stunning debut on the 1992 fall film market stage. This was something no one had expected before. Even more interestingly, the literary film A River Runs Through It, which had just become the center of attention last week, immediately became a comparison point, and its two young supporting actors Brad and Prewitt became hot topics.
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