Curtis Morgan

When the youngsters are out of the way and old pros Hackman and Weaver work, it's hard to really dislike Heartbreakers. Sometimes, it's even a little bit of harmless fun.

The story is stale, action uninspired, pacing lackadaisical. The whole production looks a little cut-rate, too.

Deadly dull.

A tad too raunchy for its own good.

Entertains but never quite engages.

A mediocre widget stamped straight out of the mold of the popular police procedural.

A charming confection spun from pure whimsy.

Bad in a good way if you appreciate this sort of silly thriller.

Flat and forced, Jakob the Liar aspires to be a poignant parable about the power of hope but instead uses one of humanity's greatest tragedies for trite melodrama.

Simply creaks with contrivance -- particularly in its overwrought finale.

Tedious and trite.

Isn't a total crock.

The Night Flier flirts with being a decent chiller, one that for a time values the dark morality tale over the oozing entrails. In the end, it gives in to its cheap soul (it was made for and first shown on HBO) and sometimes cheesy plot (adapted from one of King's sillier stories), but not before it conjures up a creepy tone and an aptly unappealing main character. [6 Feb 1998, p.12G]

Based on evidence in My Favorite Martian, it can be concluded that while life does exist on Planet Disney, it's not particularly intelligent. Or funny. [12 Feb 1999, p.10G]

Moves too slowly, running out of gas in the later rounds of the plot.

Pretentious, perplexing and plain rock-dumb movie.

A garish clashing of sacred images and bloody semihorror, this is a movie that defines the category: interesting failure.

The timing is off, the gags lame, the twists predictable, the crudity rampant and unamusing.

Oddly entertaining ride.