Annapolis
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: January 27, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
37
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
18
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Directing Annapolis is Justin Lin, whose previous feature was the irresponsible high-school comedy thriller "Better Luck Tomorrow." This second movie is more his speed. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyGregory Kirschling
Compellingly reserved and inscrutable at the start, Franco starts to lose us by the second hour, when his character's still not showing up for roll call on time, and isn't charismatic enough to bring us over to his side. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The underdog story doesn't miss a cliche, even though it never figures out whether it's a boxing picture or a military drama. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
A hopeless if harmless boxing picture whose principals just happen to wear uniforms outside the ring, Annapolis is set in a U.S. Naval Academy where no one ever seems to attend class. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's really just "Rocky" in gleaming dress whites. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
James Franco and Tyrese Gibson scowl and strut and should make the hearts of teenage girls all atwitter, and that's about the only audience that won't see most of the punches telegraphed well in advance. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A formulaic, predictable and yet reasonably likable picture. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It wasn't shot in Annapolis and doesn't have an original thought in its head. Other than that, Annapolis is a fine film. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Like so many disappointing movies, it's peopled by performers who do their damnedest to make the whole thing work. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This isn't as much a movie as it is a recipe for a cinematic casserole in which the ingredients are clichés and rip-offs. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverStaff (Not credited)
The best things about this numbingly predictable service-academy drama are its talented leading men. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Any resemblance (except qualitatively) to "An Officer and A Gentleman" is strictly unaccidental. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The result is two competing films, one about a failure's struggle to succeed in the Brigade Championships, the academy's boxing tournament, and the other about a quitter redeemed by military discipline. In the hands of director Justin Lin, the two story lines don't altogether merge. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Packing in enough cliches for a dozen movies, this drama about a sensitive young man trying to achieve his dreams via the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis will best be enjoyed by the generation unfamiliar with "An Officer and a Gentlemen," "Top Gun" and any preceding boxing movies. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
At a time when movies, even from Hollywood, are finally turning their eyes to conflicts abroad, Annapolis seems conspicuously myopic and reactionary in its denial of the world outside campus, though a movie this formulaic wouldn't pass muster during peacetime, either. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
May be a good showcase for James Franco, who's in every scene, but it's a disappointing choice for director Justin Lin. Read full review
40
Village VoiceBen Kenigsberg
Often laughably overwrought rehash of "An Officer and a Gentleman," ekes out enough of a subtext on competition to qualify as a non-fiasco. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyJames C. Taylor
Annapolis succeeds only in the difficult mission of making charismatic actors like James Franco and Tyrese Gibson seem bland and surprisingly unsexy. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
Franco is a refreshingly offbeat screen presence and in lighter moments boasts an appealing smile. He may be someone to watch, but too bad there's little room for emotional spontaneity - acting, in other words - in a rote Hollywood drill such as this. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A record number of movie cliches are strung together for the otherwise forgettable boot-camp drama Annapolis. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
Sir, no, sir. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Guaranteed neither to offend nor delight. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It is the anti-Sundance film, an exhausted wheeze of bankrupt cliches and cardboard characters, the kind of film that has no visible reason for existing, except that everybody got paid. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The Navy will no doubt like what it sees, yet a project such as this should impart some sense of the times we live in. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The only impressive thing about it is the monotony and thoroughness with which it replicates cliches from older, better movies and hammers them into pop alloy to an up-with-me beat beat beat of its musical score. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Annapolis has enough material for an exciting trailer. But that's all the movie really is: a trailer tricked out with protracted boxing sequences and an undernourished romantic subplot that culminates in a single tepid kiss. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
If Annapolis is not the worst movie to date of this still-young year, it is certainly the most hackneyed, as well as the most depressing. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Best never to have left dry dock with this one. Read full review
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