 "The Washington Post" reviewer called it "solid, smart entertainment", and praised Robin Williams for giving a "nicely restrained acting performance".Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" also praised Williams' "exceptionally fine performance", while noting that ""Dead Poets Society" ... is far less about Keating than about a handful of impressionable boys".Pauline Kael was unconvinced by the film, and its "middlebrow highmindedness", but praised Williams.