Blast from the Past
Release Date: February 12, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
Blast feels positively timely if not downright positive about the human race's ability to endure. Forget radiation. Fraser and folks actually survive three decades-plus of Perry Como music. [12 February 1999, Life, p.8E]
75
San Francisco ExaminerJane Ganahl
Spacek and Walken are pure comic energy. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
As a date movie or for a solo night out, Blast from the Past offers more than standard romantic comedy fare. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is funny and entertaining in all the usual ways, yes, but I was grateful that it tried for more: that it was actually about something, that it had an original premise, that it used satire and irony and had sly undercurrents. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
It would be nice to say that Blast From the Past is, but it ain't exactly. Half-blast is more like it. Read full review
70
NewsweekTed Gideonse
Spacek is brilliantly funny, slowly transforming Helen from a nervous 60s housewife into a liquored-up one. I could have watched her in the vibrating fat-burner, eyes closed, lazily gripping a martini glass, for hours. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyTroy Patterson
As pleasantly plastic as its retro-chic sets. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Fortunately, the Webber shelter is a jaunty monument to kitsch, and the Webbers themselves are an appealingly batty crew. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
Like last winter's "Pleasantville," this movie juxtaposes classic virtues against modern mores. The former did so with far more invention. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis Harvey
A time-warp comedy that starts out kinda "Pleasantville" and gets pretty Tepidsville, Blast From the Past expends scant imagination or style on a fun premise that seems an open invitation to both. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Demands that we see as coincidental if not ironic the ease with which Fraser cuts a rug at a swing club when he's hopelessly naive about everything else that's being revived in the 90s when he emerges. Read full review
50
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A mediocre comic romance. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Intermittently appealing movie romance. Read full review
50
Village VoiceGary Dauphin
Most fun when it's locked up with daddy. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This bizarre hybrid of romantic comedy cliches and less-than-subtle social commentary defeats their best efforts to make it sparkle. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleHollis Chacona
It was sweet, but it should have been better. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Blast is just shooting blanks. [12 February 1999, Friday, p.A]
30
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The first 20 minutes of Blast From The Past, in which the film actually does something with its central concept, aren't that bad. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
A flimsy premise to begin with, it’s been punctured beyond repair by an amateur script from Bill Kelly and director Hugh Wilson (The First Wives Club), and by Wilson’s shocking ineptitude with dialogue, framing and pace. Read full review
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