Lisa Alspector

Intriguing but poorly executed ideas are the basis of this not entirely unappealing romantic comedy.

The shticky dialogue undercuts the solid genre plotting, which undercuts the humor.

Grossly unimaginative.

A blandly twisting plot with no meaningful revelations or substantial themes.

The plot is largely a series of excuses for one-liners expertly delivered by Maguire, making all the hatred, maiming, and killing seem like digressions.

After loosening us up with some irresistible shtick that rigorously fulfills genre expectations, the movie subtly, systematically begins to break down familiar tropes in the depiction of attractiveness, attraction, and heterosexual courtship.

This grasping comedy targets kids of all ages but will please no one as it exploits exhausted ideas about adolescence.

This kind of wheel spinning comes from having the desire to speak but nothing much to say, and Smith, who's made a slight movie about his being a slight filmmaker, seems to know this.

One reason this production-design vehicle is so incredibly boring is that the characters keep having to explain the plot to one another.

The moody images and Michael Nyman's score aren't enough to salvage this banal 1997 science fiction story.

Fast-paced editing doesn't compensate for unconvincing dialogue.

Smug, uninsightful light drama.

Wolfgang Petersen and writer Andrew Marlowe, apparently afraid to really make fun of any American icons, challenge us to take the story straight no matter what, but the only thing this ponderous movie has going for it is its unintentional humor.

This comedy-thriller that has no particular motive for changing tones.

Virtually unendurable.

Isn't absurd enough to be funny.

Makes for a tiresome antidrama populated mainly by unambiguously good characters who might as well be invulnerable.

Boring, irksome family movie.

A story that holds little suspense; we know exactly how happily this animated musical will end--and the wait isn't very diverting.

Its ponderous explanations about why there are vampires in Arizona in the new millennium (blah, blah, blah).

This blunt comedy suffers from poor pacing, colorless dialogue, and subpar performances by the two leads that reveal just how much a director contributes to our perception of what a star is.

The characters seem both reduced and idealized, and the plot has turns a dispassionate dramatist would avoid.

Cathartically disgusting adventure movie.

Tedious mockumentary.

Even the most shocking elements of the story are made bland by childish overkill.

Unlike Michael Jordan, this 45-minute large-format movie demonstrates mostly unrealized potential.

Writer Barry McEvoy and director Barry Levinson might want to brush up on the use of metaphor.

Conveys little sense of a connection, as if di Florio had made it mainly because she had access to a celebrity.