Kim Morgan

Somewhere along the way, Stephen Herek's Rock Star decided to become a dippy, cliche-ridden drama and, worse, an odd indictment of metal music. Joy.

Amusing, funny (intentionally and unintentionally -- it's dubbed, so many lines come out ludicrous) and, by the ending, exciting.

'N Sync is bouncy, harmless fun. And so is this stupid movie.

Too sugary to be funny or offensive or even offensively funny, though any kind of funny would be welcome here.

Gives just enough to forgive any of its initial flaws and eventually grows on you.

The picture is pinched and predictable. Even with the immensely talented Steve Zahn, an actor who's known to steal scenes and, sometimes, save pictures, the movie is a yawn.

The script is atypically bland for Heckerling.

The dialogue is clipped and theatrical, and, aside from Harvey Keitel's German officer, accents are abandoned, which may distract viewers. For me it worked fine.

Goes overboard in its presentation of supposed reality.

Gallo makes some fatal mistakes in his direction. As Griffin talks, he adds sound effects that are distracting and annoying. It's actually an insult to the comic -- as if his jokes aren't clever enough on their own.

Westfeldt becomes irritating. That's one of the film's points, but it's made a little too well.

Crowe understands what's interesting about Nash: He's not a feel-good figure. It's a pity the same can't be said for Howard.

A little movie, fine, but a little movie with little in the way of character composition, cinematic panache or intelligent writing.

While breezy and fun, the film is also flimsy and sloppy in style and content.

The film isn't terrible, it's just trying too hard.

Peter Segal's film, a predictable, choppy affair at best, boasts an understated, likable performance by Sandler, but here we never feel, as we did with the original, invested in the outcome of the final game, or convinced of the redeemability of the movie's sordid protagonist.

Eventually becomes tedious.

A slight, smartly dressed bit of melodrama that thinks it's gritty when it's really a bit of puff.

Manages to feel both obvious and oblique: You feel the need to watch it twice but wonder if you would actually be up for it. It moves like a breezy techno-thriller but tangles itself with duplicities and metaphors. You get it, and then you don't get it, and then you wonder if you even care.

It's merely a by-the-numbers coming-of-age film

The performances are uniformly fine, with Perez showing a heavy amount of presence and complexity. It's no wonder the film works best when fixed on his face.

Bad comedy.

The story sounds horrifying, but the film takes some unfortunate twists and never presents us with a multifaceted character in Paxton. Paxton just doesn't play the nice-but-nuts role with a modicum of terror.

Marshall does such a good job re-creating the otherworldly energy of a temple of youth that the rest of the picture feels strained and sometimes trite. Nevertheless, parts can be absorbing, reflective and touching.

It's an odd, overly long picture, filled with too many pauses but dotted with just enough funky band sequences to keep you interested.

There are many merits to the picture -- it's wonderfully shot and boasts a beautiful performance by Eul-Boom, who acts in gestures of subtle dignity and compassion. But it's questionable how we're to take actor Seung-Ho.

Understated fun, but not much more.

A sweet, loopy British comedy filled with good actors and funny moments.