Parents' Guide to

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

'60s drama about dysfunctional marriage has drinking, sex.

Movie NR 1966 131 minutes
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 13+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 16+
age 10+

Killer script, great performances by Taylor and Burton. Just a little too long.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (2):
Kids say: Not yet rated

This dark tale is a classic for a reason, but it's still a tough film to watch. The pairing of the famously real-life battling, hard-drinking, glamorous couple -- the Burtons -- in Albee's shattering comic drama may have exposed the talented couple's tendencies toward overacting. But that is a minor gripe. For 1966, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was an unusually raw, earthy, and carnival-like exposition on what can go wrong in human intercourse. We are instructed, in no uncertain terms, that really smart people, university professors no less, are as apt as anyone to mess up their lives by marrying the wrong people, by thinking that money can solve their problems, or by assuming that lots of alcohol can lubricate squeaky relationships. Sometimes the performances border on kitsch to the degree that the movie feels like a horror movie about marriage. The open hostility that makes the central marriage run, the raised voices, the disrespectful speech, and nonstop drinking and cigarette smoking in and of themselves make this more than iffy for kids. So much innuendo and so many references to buried and complex slights and disappointments will probably go over the heads of most young viewers, and it's doubtful that kids will be the least bit interested. Taylor and Dennis won Best Actress and Best Supporting actress Oscars, respectively.

Movie Details

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