“Wuthering Heights,” starring Margot Robbie, has garnered mixed reviews from film critics ahead of its debut later this week.

The Emerald Fennell’s adaptation was called out regarding its directing as well as the performances of Robbie and her co-star Jacob Elordi.

However, some critics also had much praise for the movie, which is a loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s famous novel.

Ahead of its official debut later this week, “Wuthering Heights” has drawn mixed reactions from film critics for its “lewd” and “exhausting sex scenes,” despite the initial anticipation many held towards the project.

Much of the criticism aimed at Emerald Fennell’s adaptation has focused on the lead performances, with detractors expressing frustration over Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi’s turn as Heathcliff.

The Independent‘s Clarisse Loughrey, in particular, awarded the film a one-star rating and described the pair’s performances as “almost pushed to the border of pantomime.”

She reserved even harsher criticism for Elordi’s portrayal of Heathcliff, branding the character a “wet-eyed, Mills & Boon mirage.”

Meanwhile, The Times‘ Kevin Maher directed his criticism at Robbie, dismissing her Catherine role as a “Brontë Barbie,” which seemed like a pointed reference to the animated doll she portrayed in the 2023 film, “Barbie.”

Collider blasted the intimate scenes in the film as “exhausting,” claiming that they “overstay their welcome.”

Still in his review, Maher also called out Fennell’s directing, claiming she made a “vapid” film that “fails to reflect the complexity of the greatest gothic novel in English literature.”

Further criticism came from The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw, who noted how Fennell’s loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s book did not do justice to Elordi and Robbie’s talents.

“Emerald Fennell’s take on Emily Brontë is an emotionally hollow, bodice-ripping misfire that misuses Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi,” he wrote.

He added, “For Fennell, it looks like a luxurious pose of unserious abandon. It’s quasi-erotic, pseudo-romantic, and then ersatz-sad, a club night of mock emotion.”

The Daily Mail then compared Emerald Fennell’s direction with that of earlier adaptations, arguing that her version was far less “satisfying.”

“Fennell is by no means alone in deciding to adapt a celebrated novel for the screen, then fiddling with the story as if the original wasn’t quite up to snuff. Producer Sam Goldwyn famously insisted on a happy ending to the 1939 version starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier,” the outlet wrote.

“But that’s a much more satisfying film than this handsome but ultimately empty exercise in style over substance, cinematography over soul,” it further remarked.

Despite heavy criticism directed at the filmmaker and cast, a segment of the movie buffs praised the adaptation.

The Telegraph‘s Robbie Collin heaped praises on the film, describing it as “resplendently lurid, oozy and wild,” alongside awarding a five-star rating.

He also hinted that viewers will be transfixed by the production, as he called it “an obsessive film about obsession, and hungrily embroils the viewer in its own mad compulsions.”

Just like Collin, BBC‘s Caryn James showered the film with praise, with particular attention to Fennell’s directing.

“Fennell’s approach is an extravagant swirl: sexy, dramatic, melodramatic, occasionally comic and often swoonily romantic,” James wrote.

In “Wuthering Heights,” Robbie and Elordi’s characters’ tumultuous love story unfolds against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, much like in the novel. However, according to the actress, fans should expect far raunchier scenes than those found in the 1847 classic.

“They never really kissed in the book, but we kiss a lot. We kiss everywhere,” Robbie said in a recent interview, per the Daily Mail. “And there’s so many times where he just picks me up and puts me in a tree, or picks me up with one hand.”