The film's critical reaction was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 54% based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10 and the consensus: "Unevenly echoing the work of Alfred Hitchcock, "Basic Instinct" contains a star-making performance from Sharon Stone, but is ultimately undone by its problematic, overly lurid plot." On Metacritic the film holds a score of 41 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.