Thin free liquid sheets are ubiquitous in many industrial processes, such as atomization and curtain coating. Liquid sheets are susceptible to instabilities at the interface, which can grow, triggering a breakup process. This process can be divided into two different stages: the rupture stage and retraction. The first, driven by van der Waals force, occurs when a small instability grows until it pinches-off the sheet. The second, driven by capillary forces, induces the growth of the hole caused by the pinch-off, leading to the full disintegration of the liquid sheet. The stability of a liquid sheet depends on disturbance characteristics, sheet thickness, and fluid properties. Experimental analyses have shown that thinner stable liquid curtain can be obtained with viscoelastic liquids. The underlyning physical mechanisms associated with increased stability are, however, not fully understood. This work presents a theoretical and numerical analysis of the effect of viscoelasticity on the stability of a thin liquid sheet during both stages of the breakup process. We first analyze the rupture dynamics, deriving linear stability criteria for both planar and axisymmetric perturbations of Newtonian and Oldroyd-B liquids. The time evolution of planar and axisymmetric perturbations in an Oldroyd-B liquid sheet is evaluated using the asymptotic expansion of the flow variables and a fully-implicit time integration scheme. The rupture time and retraction velocity are calculated as a function of the viscoelastic properties. The results show that the liquid rheological behavior does not influence the linear stability criterion. Nevertheless, it has a strong effect on the growth rate of the disturbance and retraction velocity, increasing, thus, the breakup time. The results show that elastic forces act to hinder the rupture and retraction stages. Analysis of the temporal evolution of the thickness profile reveals that liquid rheological behavior also affects the shape of the liquid sheet. For low viscosity regime, the elastic forces damp the capillary waves that arise during the retraction of Newtonian sheets.