The critics' virtually unanimous decision has been confirmed at the box office: Crimes of the Heart is the first comedy hit of the 1981–'82 season. Neither the long lines … nor the awards and prizes being showered upon the show, however, have changed my negative feelings about it…. I certainly wouldn't mind eating fried chicken in this friendly kitchen in Hazelhurst, Mississippi. But not with the company Beth Henley has provided. I find nothing enthralling in spending an evening with three badly adjusted, if not mentally retarded sisters, who are given free rein to exhibit their individual eccentricities. The actresses' competence does not overcome the unpleasantness of the roles they have to play.

I am not yet persuaded, either, that situations where the heartiest laughs are provoked by lines like "Grandpa is in a coma …" are truly comic. Of course, when we see someone slip on a banana peel...