Luke Y. Thompson

The film's biggest strength is the same characteristic that may cause people to underrate it: that the group of friends we watch onscreen feel not like England's greatest actors showing off, but rather a group of friends who have indeed known each other for years through life's little triumphs and large tragedies.

The central theme of the movie is the pure joy the cartoon takes in childishness.

Some fairly standard shenanigans ensue, and when the clichéd high school culture clash stuff stops, there's clichéd cop movie stuff going on.

Kusama offers moments of inspiration, but it frustrates like hell that she couldn't nail it completely.

Director Marcus Raboy hasn't made a bad movie, exactly -- just one that seems to have forgotten its own jokes, much as those who watch it will forget everything about it a week later, stoned or not.

Ferrell owns the screen.

Silly, yes, but sweet and fun too.

God bless Johnny Depp. For the second time this year, the man has almost single-handedly redeemed an action movie that would otherwise be indistinguishable from the pack.

Is it worth the goofy characters and weak story for the effects and action sequences? Absolutely.

Neil LaBute is back to his old self, and the cinematic world is a better place for it.

There might have been a decent comedy here if someone had remembered to insert some actual humor.

The film feels like a violation of the festival's philosophy of "participants only, no spectators": Who, after all, is going to sit in a theater to see this but a spectator? It is fun stuff to look at, though.

The whole thing is best enjoyed while really drunk.

The movie works while you watch it, with plenty of scares both sudden and psychological.

Only Kerry Condon, as Freeman's geeky adopted daughter, plays anything approaching a realistic character.

Actually boasts a decent script with character development, a sense of pace and some well-drawn supporting roles.

Where are our Tracy/Hepburn screwball combos? Part of the appeal of "Wedding Crashers" was that Isla Fisher truly did have the comedic chops to match Vince Vaughn, and Just Friends suggests that Reynolds and Faris have potential greatness together too. Just not so much in this film.

Herzog is primarily interested in Treadwell the filmmaker, but you'll likely be fascinated with him as a human being.

Sure, it's amusing, but it isn't much more.

Utilizing lots of complicated, well-choreographed steadicam shots, La Salle directs with confidence -- this may yet be his true calling.

It's unfortunate that, nudity and all, this is one of Toback's absolute worst efforts.

No less amusing than an average sitcom, but that's certainly not reason enough to buy a ticket.

The film generally looks like a TV special, with low production values and lots of closeups.

Stallone's script is well structured, though the jaw-droppingly banal dialogue gives us little reason to care.

In the grand scheme of things, Goblet of Fire is perhaps closest to the original "Sorcerer's Stone."

Kennedy is funny, but too cartoonish to ever identify with -- Diggs and Anderson are the real stars of the show, and need more screen time.

The film was cut down from an R rating to get a PG-13, but even if it had full-on Eliza Dushku nudity -- and it doesn't have anything close -- Soul Survivors would still suck.

The Broken Lizard types bring the best out of Paxton, only to abandon him in the second half and focus on themselves. A bit more humility might have served them in better stead.