Wuthering Heights early reviews out! Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie starrer called 'hollow' and 'emotionally silly'

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi's romance drama Wuthering Heights has arrived and has garnered mixed reactions from netizens. Emerald Fennell's take on Emily Brontë's classic novel has become the topic of discussion among the audience and critics. Let's delve in to know what the verdict of netizens on social media is.

First reviews of Wuthering Heights

Reviews for Wuthering Heights are out, and the reactions to this romantic period drama are mixed. While one has wrote this movie an 'hollow work', another has wrote, "Emily Bronte is absolutely rolling in her grave." Few have also praised the performance of the cast and the film in overall as well.

A writer of Variety, wrote on X, "Emerald Fennell's #WutheringHeightsMovie is a god-tier new classic. Intoxicating, transcendent, tantalizing, bewitching, lust worthy, hypnotic. Expertly captures the breathtaking ache & essence of desire. Sandgren’s cinematography, spellbinding. Davies’ production design, sublime."

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In an interview with Collider, which is titled 'Emily Brontë is abslutely rolling in her grave stated, "Fennell “has taken a knife and gutted out some of the most pivotal characters of the book.” The review criticised both casting and characterisation, arguing that Robbie appears too mature for Cathy and that the character has been reimagined as a “whiny rich girl” rather than a fierce, defiant presence. It further noted that the film reframes Cathy and Heathcliff’s toxic dynamic into a more conventional star-crossed romance, diluting the psychological tension that defines the novel.

Film critic Courtney Howard wrote: “Emerald Fennell’s #WutheringHeightsMovie is a god-tier new classic. Intoxicating, transcendent, tantalizing, bewitching, lust worthy, hypnotic. Expertly captures the breathtaking ache & essence of desire. Sandgren’s cinematography, spellbinding. Davies’ production design, sublime.”

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The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic, David Rooney, wrote in his review, “Fennell’s overhaul flirts with insanity, and if you can let go of preconceived notions about how this story should be told, it’s arguably the writer-director’s most purely entertaining film — pulpy, provocative, drenched in blazing color and opulent design, laced with anachronistic flourishes, sexy, pervy, irreverent and resonantly tragic. Often teetering on the verge between silly and clever, it’s Wuthering Heights for the Bridgerton generation, guaranteed to moisten tear ducts and inflame young hearts.”

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The Guardian‘s critic, Peter Bradshaw, wrote, “Emerald Fennell cranks up the campery as she reinvents Emily Brontë’s tale of Cathy and Heathcliff on the windswept Yorkshire moor as a 20-page fashion shoot of relentless silliness, with bodices ripped to shreds and a saucy slap of BDSM. Margot Robbie’s Cathy at one stage secretly heads off to the moor for a hilarious bit of self-pleasuring – although, sadly, there are no audaciously intercut scenes of thirst-trap Heathcliff, played by Jacob Elordi, simultaneously doing the same thing in the stable, while muttering gruffly in that Yerrrrrkshire accent of his.”

All about Wuthering Heights

Written and directed by Emerald Fennell, it is loosely inspired by Emily Brontë's 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. The film stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. Other cast members include Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clues and Ewan Mitchell, among others.

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Wuthering Heights will have its world premiere in Los Angeles on January 28, 2026, and will be released by Warner Bros Pictures on February 13. It is slated to release in IMAX theatres.

Anthony Wills will compose the score for the film, after having worked with Fennell on Saltburn, with Charlie XCX contributing an album of original songs. The lead single, House, featuring Welsh musician John Cale, was released on November 10, 2025, alongside a music video directed by Mitch Ryan.