Rating: 
Summary: a real laugher
Review: Demi Moore's overwrought acting and nearly complete misunderstanding of her role make "The Scarlet Letter" a real laugher. If you are looking for something to brighten your day, this unintended parody will do the trick.
Anyone familiar with the American classic will find few similarities here. If anything, by the movie's end, you will be sympathizing with the clergyman who was the weak-spined anti-hero of the original. High students who view this film as an aid to their assigned reading of Hawthorne are strongly cautioned, as it would not be helpful. Recommended only as an example of to what truly awful level Demi Moore's interpretive acting can sink.
Rating: 
Summary: If Only!
Review: Unfortunately, the technical details provided by Amazon.com did not mention that this DVD release was a full screen (pan & scan) version. I would have stayed far away from it. Having seen the LD widescreen version previously, I was terribly disappointed and gave the DVD away.
Rating:
Summary: A fully useless DVD release
Review: I haven't seen this DVD and certainly will not. Hell, the movie was shot in a 2,35:1 aspect ratio and Buena Vista thinks it smart to release it in pan & scan only, even through they delivered a full widescreen version back in the good ol' laserdisc days. My suggestion is to stay away from that DVD and wait for a proper widescreen release.
Rating:
Summary: Bad plot, terrific scenery
Review: "The Scarlet Letter" is those kind of movies that Hollywood barely flicks an eye when it comes to filming certain popular book adaptations, if the movie involves adultery of infidelity of the sort. A woman who is in the new colonies, by the name of Hestor Prynne, falls in love with the local pastor, who shares the same feelings for her. When her husband comes back-whom she believed to be killed-chaos results when he discovers that she had sex with the pastor and having a baby. The movie is barely based on the book, the script is anemic, and the acting is one-dimensional-need I say more? But the movie has beautiful cinematography, beautiful actors and the score is superb. That's the movie's saving grace. If the movie had steered more towards the passion of Hestor and the pastor, and not to the baby and Hestor's long-to-be-believed-to-be-dead husband, it would have been a touching, moving romance. Instead, we get a beautifully shot film with mediocre acting. Rated R for sexuality/nudity and for war violence.
Rating: 
Summary: Scarlet Letter
Review: If this movie were not based on a famous novel, the reaction would have been quite different. Many more of us who are still unjaded would have peacefully been able to enjoy this movie for all it has to offer. I'm sorry for those who lack the sensitivity to appreciate beauty when they behold such an example. I love this film. This is a true romantic escape. It has everything. We are taken back to another time, to a glorious, pristine land where true but forbidden love dawns for two beautiful people. There is much conflict as with any great love story but a happy ending for these characters is necessary and appreciated. The exquisite score precisely explains the emotion of every scene. Gary Oldman is absolute perfection and Demi Moore is exactly right for the so-loved woman with which we want to identify. What more does a love story need? One must see this film more than once to fully realize the value of this precious gem. Nevermind the novel or the cynics who don't understand. This movie stands on it's own as a pure,heroic,sweet pleasure for the true romantic heart. A refreshing change from todays too realistic,(what's so good about that?)violent movie. I never get tired of watching this film, of being whisked back in time to meet a man who so dramatically and completely loved a woman.
Rating:
Summary: A Complete & Plesant Surprise
Review: To begin with, I have never thought Demi Moore anything but a pretty face & a great bod. I have always liked Gary Oldman, but never thought of him as a sexy leading man. When this movie came out, I avoided it, because I always considered it a waste of time to see Demi Moore movies. Recently, I caught this movie on cable around 3 in the morning, and I was totally blown away, by the chemistry of Moore & Oldman. It was so erotic! Sometimes a movie like this is wonderful because of all the guilty pleasures it offers.
Does everything have to be true to the mark all the time? I have always enjoyed Hawthorne's books, and when I read the Scarlet Letter in High School, I hated it, but then what can you expect from a 16 year old? A couple of years ago I reread the book and it's really great, however, that did not diminish one bit the enjoyment I derive from watching this "freely adapted" version.
I guess one could say, that there were lots & lots of inconsistencies regarding authencicity, like Hester's "Conciousness raising group" and the fact that she would go into town & buy soap instead making her own. Also, no Seventeenth Century woman in her right mind would think Arthur Dimmsdale was a "catch", in fact, I can't think of any Twenteith Century woman that would. But who cares? Reverend Dimmsdale was very sexy & so cute!!! If I was Hester, I would have been dragging him into the barn way before she did. The only criticism I have is that it would have added to the story to draw out the development of Hester & Arthur's relationship longer to give the story more romantic tension. Also, I would have liked to see more love scenes.
In closing let me say that The Scarlet Letter is like a really fattening snack that has no nutritional value. You know it's really no good, but you eat it anyway because it's delicious.
Rating:
Summary: Ah, America
Review: It's an amazing country where an actress can build a multi-million dollar career without having made a single decent movie. Since I just saw The Scarlet Letter on video (AGAIN-- I also saw it in a theatre; I'm a masochist, and I forgot to take my purple pill that day). I'm speaking of Demi Moore. This is at least the fifth version of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, so I suppose the producers' biggest problem was differentiating their version from the earlier ones. "Oh, I know!" exclaimed some bright young executive. "Let's show Pearl's conception!" We'll do the sexy version. Now you have to understand, even by Victorian standards Hawthorne is long winded, so I think that if Hawthorne had wanted us to know what happened before Hester went to prison, he would have told us. And told us, and told us. But since Ms. Moore only makes films where she gets to roll back her head and writhe, alterations were necessary. And let's get one thing straight: Hester Prynne was no proto-feminist, no Sylvia Pankhurst purposefully having an illegitimate child as an up-the-establishment of marriage. Hester made exactly one mistake in her whole life. In every other respect she was the model Puritan goodwife. That was Hawthorne's whole point, that we should judge people on their good works, not on the worst things they've ever done. But you'd never guess that from this film, which I can't even recommend to insomniacs, because just when you're getting comfortable, somebody lets out one of those soulful screams that, in this film, substitutes for character development. Aside from lousy acting, though, this is more than just a departure from the book; this is a fatally flawed film. From the moment Hester arrives in the colony, she is scandalizing people left and right. She lives alone, and then buys herself a BATHTUB (gasp! nekked before the LORD) a HAT double gasp!!) no bonnets for this independent woman. You can actually see her HAIR (triple gasp!!!) and the hat is adorned with a very long, white feather, which if it's historically correct, someone in costuming is having a good laugh, because it must be a turkey feather. The Hester of this film is a tar barrel away from being run out of town before she ever turns up pregnant. There were other colonial towns, some more tolerant than the one where she lived, and there were Native tribes willing to take in Europeans. Hester had plenty of places to go, rather than stay around and take abuse. The Hester of the book stays around because she believes in the ideals and the religion of the colony, doesn't believe there's a better place to go, believes she has sinned, believes she deserves what she has gotten, and wants to stay there and raise her child there, because a child already tainted with illegitimacy needs all the help she can get. Moore's Hester, pregnant, and knowing she could be arrested, would probably have packed up her bathtub, pulled on her hat at a rakish angle, and been gone by sunup. The screenwriters, or the producers, or both seem not to know this. It's hard to say they are simply ignorant; my suspicion is that they think the public is. I am delighted that this picture flopped, because Hollywood may have gotten a message about what it can get away with. For lack of anything better to do while I sat through this mess, I tried to recall all of Demi Moore's movies. First, was Ghost, which might as well have been called All Good-looking White People Go to Heaven. In Scarlet Letter, she writhes
in hay; Ghost, she writhes in clay. Indecent Proposal? that's the one where she does her writhing in a pile of money. In Disclosure, she writhes on a mahogany desk. I didn't see A Few Good Men, but I saw the posters of her in her dress blues. Does she writhe in them? THAT might be worth $6.50. Professional writhing. Only in America.
Rating: 
Summary: dont listen to the critics who have nothing better to do!!
Review: if anything, i think this movie was an excellent plot, a wonderful display of love and struggle, and a complete success. i just love how the characters put their effort into portraying the charisma of everyday puritan life. for every critic out there who hated this movie, i suggest you learn how to see true art, because this movie was a piece of art! i too read the novel and know about the differences. however, it is simply foolish to compare the two. one is a novel, and the other is a modern portrayal of cinema. personally, i liked the movie better, it gives you a feeling of saddness as well as joy. the movie was great and i urge you to rent it or buy it or whatever, especially if you like happy endings!!
Rating:
Summary: The crabby critics were wrong: this movie is HOT!
Review: I remember when this film first came out and all the constipated critics felt it was their duty to rip Demi Moore's performance to shreds and throw dirt on the entire project, claiming that it wasn't "true" enough to the Hawthorne book from which it was "freely adapted" (as it says in the opening credits). I never read the Hawthorne novel, but plan to soon, and am certain that reading it will not somehow diminish my thorough enjoyment of this film.
Demi and Gary Oldman radiate a palpable HEAT between them from their first scene together. All the actors involved do an excellent job, including Robert Duval and Joan Ploughwright. Demi and Gary are wonderful together - and I for one LOVED the ending. So - I hope the critics, with their intense personal needs to sound smarter than the rest of us poor slobs who wouldn't know how to watch a movie without their esteemed knowledge to accompany us through each viewing, do not keep any of you from enjoying this very sensuous, beauitfully done film.
Rating:
Summary: A Purloined Scarlet Letter
Review: Any similarities between this movie and Hawthorne's novel are purely coincidental. I don't understand why Demi Moore would choose to be in such a poor presentation of Hawthorne's novel. If anybody writing the script had actually taken the time to read the book he would have found a story that is truly heroic and humanistic. Hawthorne's Hester is a strong woman who endures the shame and ostracisim of her peers with dignity. The letter A may stand for Adultery at the beginning of the novel, but by the end it stands for Able, even Angel as Hester has become a force of strength and compassion in the community. I can't imagine what the letter A stands for in the movie unless it's appalling. The complete reworking of the characters is reprehensible. Pearl is the wild, untamed child in the novel who gains humanity, compassion and love at the end of the story as she finds out Dimmesdale is her father and watches his confession on the scaffold. Dimmesdale could have been so much better. His weakeness of not being able to confess and finally gaining the courage to do so at the end of the novel holds overtones of tragedy worthy of greek drama. So many scenes in Hawthorne's novel could have made for such powerful, emotional even tragic visuals on the screen. But no. The writer and producer of this movie have decided to create their own ending and have their heroine be a 20th century woman in a puritan setting. What is so lamentable is that this could have been a good movie if they had read the book and actually based the movie on Hawthorne's work. I would suggest that everyone go back to the drawing board and start over and resist the temptation to adapt all things 20th century that are politcally correct and look at the themes Hawthorne brought forth in his novel and work from them instead.
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