The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

70% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings

While visiting Moscow, British publisher Barley Blair (Sean Connery) learns of a manuscript detailing the Soviet Union's nuclear missile capabilities. British intelligence and the CIA consider the book to contain crucial information and recruit Blair to investigate its editor, Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer). As Blair learns the origin of the manuscript and discovers Russian military secrets, he falls in love with Katya and fights to protect her family.

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The Russia House

Critics Reviews

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The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: A- Sep 7, 2011 Full Review The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Brian Tallerico UGO Rated: 3/5 Mar 24, 2007 Full Review The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times To judge by this film, the life of a Cold War spy consists of sitting for endless hours in soundproof rooms with people you do not particularly like, waiting for something to happen. Sort of like being a movie critic. Rated: 2/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Connery and Pfeiffer are both excellent, but much of the film’s pleasure comes from watching the consummate pros filling out the roles of various bureaucrats Rated: 3/4 Feb 8, 2023 Full Review The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) Visually spectacular, and very well acted. [Full review in Spanish] Nov 11, 2022 Full Review The Russia House | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Alistair Lawrence Common Sense Media An unconvincing love story wrapped inside a spying drama that's as gray as a Moscow winter skyline, this John le Carré adaptation is slow, tedious, and instantly forgettable. Rated: 2/5 Jan 5, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jelisije J A slow paced realistic espionage cold war love drama that kept me engaged throughout its run time. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/11/23 Full Review Mr P Astonishing cast, from the sublime to the ridiculous,( take a bow Ken Russell ). Connery is on his very best form. Beautifully shot, great dialogue, very little action. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Crap direction, Crap script, Crap location work, crap casting, crap acting. Boring! Nothing like le Caré! Rated 1/5 Stars • Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Never Say Never Say Never Again Again: From The Russia House With LoveStripped of the superheroism, the masculine fantasy, and the geopolitical absurdism (kinda), Sean Connery here dons the mantle of the anti-007, not in the sense that he has become the villain (as he will later in THE AVENGERS) but insofar as the world of le Carré is so different from that of Fleming, eschewing the gadgetry and gallantry and hot-blooded action of the latter with the icy bureaucracy and tedium of actual espionage while replacing one sort of romantic chauvinism for another. Leading an incredible cast—that includes, of all people, Ken Russell, who himself directed one of the great Sixties spy films—Connery turns in one of his finest performances, less the ever-deft Bond, a figure only found in fiction, than he is a bumbling book publisher, not an Übermensch but (just as rare) a merely decent human being who cares not a whit for the ideological machines that, in turn, couldn't care less about him. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review steve d It all amounts to very little. Rated 2/5 Stars • Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member It's hard to say what makes this movie so dull - it's not the range of beautiful locations, it's not the charmingly acted character of Barley, and even Michelle Pfeiffer shows some good emotional range. Must be the actual stretched out storyline, which lacks proper espionage thrills and relies on unlikely romance. Rated 2.5/5 Stars • Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Fred Schepisi Director Sean Connery Barley Michelle Pfeiffer Katya Roy Scheider Russell James Fox Ned John Mahoney Brady
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The Russia House

The Russia House: Official Clip - A Virtuoso Comb Player The Russia House: Official Clip - A Virtuoso Comb Player 2:33 The Russia House: Official Clip - A Picasso Metaphor The Russia House: Official Clip - A Picasso Metaphor 2:06 The Russia House: Official Clip - You Remember '68? The Russia House: Official Clip - You Remember '68? 2:00 The Russia House: Official Clip - Grown-Up Love The Russia House: Official Clip - Grown-Up Love 3:23 The Russia House: Official Clip - My First Good Contract The Russia House: Official Clip - My First Good Contract 2:26 The Russia House: Official Clip - And Yet Here I Am The Russia House: Official Clip - And Yet Here I Am 2:46 The Russia House: Official Clip - The Great Lie The Russia House: Official Clip - The Great Lie 2:01 The Russia House: Official Clip - Spy Training The Russia House: Official Clip - Spy Training 1:55 The Russia House: Official Clip - The Next Revolution The Russia House: Official Clip - The Next Revolution 2:11 The Russia House: Official Clip - Anarchist Tendencies The Russia House: Official Clip - Anarchist Tendencies 2:15 View more videos

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The Russia House

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Synopsis While visiting Moscow, British publisher Barley Blair (Sean Connery) learns of a manuscript detailing the Soviet Union's nuclear missile capabilities. British intelligence and the CIA consider the book to contain crucial information and recruit Blair to investigate its editor, Katya Orlova (Michelle Pfeiffer). As Blair learns the origin of the manuscript and discovers Russian military secrets, he falls in love with Katya and fights to protect her family.

Director
Fred Schepisi

Producer
Paul Maslansky, Fred Schepisi

Screenwriter
Tom Stoppard

Production Co
Pathé Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Rating
R

Genre
Drama

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 19, 1990, Original

Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 16, 2008

Box Office (Gross USA)
$22.6M

Runtime
2h 3m

Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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