Ruthe Stein

If you enjoy gross humor -- elevated by an occasional witty line -- and looking at babes, and don't mind a little blood and gore, do I have a date movie for you.

A Christian-themed film about redemption with almost no redeeming qualities as entertainment.

Has to be one of the least charming French romances to find American distribution in recent years.

An enticingly risque saga of the 16th century monarch.

Compelling and deeply disturbing.

A disappointing sequel to the far funnier "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."

Extremely bleak but occasionally compelling debut feature.

Chock-full of holes.

It would require a near-lethal injection of nitrous oxide to induce laughter.

It works primarily because of the chemistry between Chan and Tucker, which is at its combustible best this time out.

By creating likable characters and putting them in situations that seem plausible, if a bit of a stretch, the film succeeds where others of its genre fail.

Lacks compelling narrative.

The young people in Nowhere spend a lot of time worrying about the world coming to an end. Watching these sour characters abuse themselves and one another, the more immediate concern becomes: When is this movie going to end?

Although well intentioned, has the superficial gloss of a TV movie of the week.

Despite a clever script and top-notch cast, whose commitment to doing service in the indie branch of the industry is commendable, Unknown falls apart just when it should be coming together.

A clever idea, but it's not quite pulled off.

A mess, and that's really a shame.

As good as family entertainment gets.

Director Robert Mulligan exhibits the same sensitivity about young people and their foibles as he did in "To Kill a Mockingbird." In 1962. You never sense that he's making fun of Hermie or his pals. [08 Jul 2007, p.16]

Isn't likely to win Murphy another Oscar nomination, but it allows him to do what he does best - loads of physical comedy.

Muddled, to put it kindly.

A half-baked script by Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark admittedly gives Feig little to work with. But his young cast is capable of a lot more than is required of them in this so-called comedy.

Superficially entertaining romantic romp.

A lumpy concoction.

It's visually stunning, especially in scenes of the African countryside, and takes more risks than most independent films.

Something to see and occasionally even to laugh at.

This is a movie of excesses that doesn't know when to settle down. It aims to be a slapstick comedy, a romantic comedy and a plain old romance but falls short of each goal.

Poor casting is compounded by a ludicrous script.