The verdict is in for Wuthering Heights, the hotly anticipated adaptation of the classic romance story that stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. While reception to the upcoming romance drama has been divisive ever since it was announced, it is hard to deny that the film has captured everyone’s attention. After receiving some “scorching hot” social media reactions, critics have arrived with a verdict of their own.
As of this writing, Wuthering Heights has a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 53 reviews by critics. The current consensus thus far points to an aesthetically beautiful love affair that takes significant detours from the source material. While most reviews are on board with Emerald Fennell’s vision, some are not enthused about how it twists Emily Brontë’s original work. Still, Indie Wire found that, despite Fennell changing key elements of the original narrative, the review praised her “devotion to the central relationship of Catherine Earnshaw and the mononymous Heathcliff,” which “makes for more than enough juicy material for the film‘s 136-minute running time.”
HeyUGuys doubled down on the fact that this version of Wuthering Heights may not be for everyone, especially for original novel purists. However, when it comes to “viewers willing to embrace a stylised, modernised interpretation,” Fennell’s take on the classic romance “offers a lurid, provocative and strangely compelling ride.” Meanwhile, The Atlantic went as far as to say that it is Fennell’s best work to date, surpassing the likes of Saltburn and Promising Young Woman.
“Wuthering Heights, the writer-director Emerald Fennell’s new adaptation of Emily Brontë’s groundbreaking Gothic novel, is her best film to date — a heaving, rip-snortingly carnal good time at the cinema. It is also a gooey, grimy mess.”
The Main Complaints Surrounding ‘Wuthering Heights’ Thus Far
Warner Bros.
Of course, some critics are not in love with what the latest Wuthering Heights adaptation has to offer. This was bound to happen, especially since the film does not attempt to faithfully recreate the classic novel. Collider‘s review did not hide its disappointment in the film, not just the fact that its “most important character is played not by a person of color but by a white Australian man,” but how Fennell took a knife and “gutted out some of the most pivotal characters of the book, rewriting the story to the point where it barely resembles the source at all.”
Some rotten reviews are not entirely down on the film, as Wuthering Heights still has something to offer for those who did not love it. The New Yorker‘s review did point out the film’s visuals as a major positive, making it a sight to “behold,” but they were “less convinced, for all its frenzied emoting and rain-soaked rutting, that it’s something to feel.” When it comes to style over substance, The Times was especially disappointed in the “chemistry-free central romance” between the “bizarrely uninteresting” main characters, which they claim caused the film to self-deflate.
Release Date
February 13, 2026
Runtime
136 Minutes
Director
Emerald Fennell