Amos & Andrew

Frye keeps the film within itself; he's found just the right scale and he sticks with it. As a result, Amos & Andrew is a very funny little film with big pleasures, and a most promising debut. Read full review

Amos & Andrew, written and directed by E. Max Frye, relates the intersection of these two different destinies, in a style that ranges from roaring farce to biting satire. [05 Mar 1993, p.C2]

Cage is more endearing than usual in his usual philosophical slob routine and Jackson is likeably long-suffering as the Spike Lee of the Theater. They click as a cinematic odd couple. [05 Mar 1993]

It portrays an unpleasant situation and then treats it with sitcom tactics. Either the humor should have been angrier and more hard-edged, or the filmmakers should have backed away from the situation altogether. Read full review

Unlike most comedies, the jokes succeed more often than they fail, except perhaps during the concluding fifteen minutes, when the movie runs out of gas. Read full review

Although its lofty ambitions as a "social comedy" are never fully realized, Amos & Andrew is a refreshingly intelligent, character-driven comedy that attempts to tackle a timely and serious issue - racism - and still manages to be consistently funny. [05 Mar 1993, p.24]

Don't let anyone off the hook. That's a basic rule of good satire, and on the whole Amos & Andrew follows it. The result is a generally amusing, occasionally hilarious send-up of racial posturing in America. [05 Mar 1993, p.3G]

Amos & Andrew is a better-than-average comedy that's likable enough while unfolding but evaporative when over. Read full review

Appealing as he can be at playing loose cannons, however, Cage can only go so far before being mired in a script that generates stereotypes as quickly as it thinks it's knocking them down. [05 Mar 1993, p.64]

All of this goes down somewhat easier, it's true, with talents like Cage (who's at his loose, non-Expressionistic best here) and Jackson (who proved himself a great dramatic actor in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever") at the helm. Both performers extract what reality they can from Frye's two-dimensional creations, and they give Amos & Andrew at least an iota of satirical bite. [05 Mar 1993, p.L21]

You would call Amos & Andrew a comedy of errors if it were actually funny. I suppose the precise term is an attempted comedy of errors - or maybe just a turkey. [05 Mar 1993, p.19]

Cage is the only actor allowed to do riffs on his assigned part, something he takes full advantage of; the others are stuck with their two-dimensional satirical profiles, which grow increasingly tiresome and unyielding as the comic plot predictably unfolds. Read full review

Two actors have wasted their considerable talents on this hapless comedy. With a flawed plot and far too few jokes, it's understandable why this isn't a particularly memorable film and just as well it's disappeared without trace. Read full review

Mr. Frye's initial conceits are good ones, but the film's humor somehow gets sopped up by the spongy writing and direction. The characters are fuzzily realized. The dialogue is lame and the continuity so shaky that one entire subplot sinks in confusion. Read full review

One thing's for sure about Amos & Andrew: It ain't no "Thelma & Louise." Read full review

A one-joke sketch that doesn't work as a feature, Castle Rock's Amos & Andrew raises the question: "How did this film ever get made?" Few audience members will sit through its entirety to ponder that issue. Read full review

Trying to be off-the-wall, Amos & Andrew never gets off the ground. It ends up as politically correct as its title, and that ain't funny. [05 Mar 1993]

Amos & Andrew starts out with a promising premise but everything in it is off -- the timing, the tone, the performances. It's the kind of film that makes you wonder from moment to moment just what E. Max Frye, the writer-director, had in mind. Maybe nothing? [05 Mar 1993, p.F10]

The film sags under the crushing weight of its own inadequacy, lacking not only subtlety, intelligence, and insight, but also dramatic tension, character development, and a satisfying resolution. Read full review

Samuel L. Jackson, call your agent — and fire him. Read full review

Writer-director E. Max Frye (Something Wild) strives for social satire but clogs his script with dopey characters and old Archie Bunker one-liners. [06 Mar 1993, p.E3]

In an era when racism appears to be on a violent comeback, Amos & Andrew is worse than offensive. It's a cinematic travesty. [05 Mar 1993, p.8]

E. Max Frye wrote the script for the offbeat Something Wild. Now he's directed and written something stupid. [05 Mar 1993, p.5D]