The Rachel Papers

R

1989

1 hr. 35 min.

Romance

Comedy

List

45%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

53%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Poised to attend Oxford University, 19-year-old Charles Highway (Dexter Fletcher) decides it's high time to have a romantic encounter with an older woman. With the help of a computer program and several eccentric relatives, Highway sets his sights on seducing Rachel Noyce (Ione Skye), a stunning American in her 20s. However, Highway has his work cut out for him. Noyce has a boyfriend, DeForest (James Spader), and is not exactly receptive to Highway's advances -- at first, anyway.

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Audience Member

Eighties frumpiness.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

***Due to the recent RT changes that have basically ruined my past reviews, I am mostly only giving a rating rather than a full review.***

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's hard to say why... but this movie was always a guilty pleasure... plus this was the first time that I had seen Dexter Fletcher... recognized him when I had seen Snatch.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

(** 1/2): [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/user/icons/icon13.gif[/img]

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

Average 80s sex romp.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

Not the greatest of films, Shot very much like Ferris Bueller. But some how just doesn't work. Script is not particular great either. The Actors don't give a bad performance, there is worse ways to waste two hours of your life.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Damian Harris

Director

Dexter Fletcher

Charles Highway

Ione Skye

Rachel Noyce

Jonathan Pryce

Norman

James Spader

Deforest

Bill Paterson

Gordon Highway

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Barry McIlheney

Empire Magazine

Captures the brash boldness of the novel, but not the literary wit. A misguided affair.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 8, 2013

Full Review

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

It has a brisk, well-turned-out quality that augurs well for Harris, the son of Richard Harris. Helping set and maintain the film's smart tone is Chaz Jankel and David Storrs' deft, trendy score.

Nov 8, 2013

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Director Damian Harris isn't able to capture the book's special charms, and resorts to having his young hero address the camera to keep the viewer in the picture.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

David Parkinson

Radio Times

Why must film-makers always be such slaves to the lowest common denominator?

Rated: 2/5

Nov 8, 2013

Full Review

TV Guide

Martin Amis's brilliantly acerbic first novel is unpersuasively filmed as a trendy teen comedy, with its self-loathing intellectual hero transformed into a nerdy-but-lovable computer geek.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 8, 2013

Full Review

Betsy Bozdech

DVDJournal.com

Certainly fresher and more interesting than much of the teen dreck the United States was putting out at the end of the '80s.

Rated: 2.5/4

Nov 6, 2006

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Synopsis

Poised to attend Oxford University, 19-year-old Charles Highway (Dexter Fletcher) decides it's high time to have a romantic encounter with an older woman. With the help of a computer program and several eccentric relatives, Highway sets his sights on seducing Rachel Noyce (Ione Skye), a stunning American in her 20s. However, Highway has his work cut out for him. Noyce has a boyfriend, DeForest (James Spader), and is not exactly receptive to Highway's advances -- at first, anyway.

Director: Damian Harris
Executive Producer: Eric Fellner, James T. Roe III
Screenwriter: Damian Harris
Rating: R
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Aug 5, 2003
Box Office (Gross USA): $154.6K
Sound Mix: Surround