Malibu's Most Wanted
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: April 18, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
16
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The comedy is often crass and crude, but it makes telling points about how much of "race" is more about the words and gestures we use than the actual colors of our skins. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Kennedy doesn't take the character any deeper than a caricature of rich, nonblack fans of hip-hop culture. But as a caricature, he's fantastic. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Malibu's Most Wanted mines a well-worn comedic vein, but does so with a consistent good humor and surprisingly deft touch. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The racial satire is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but there's something exhilarating about so blunt a weapon being swung with such wild abandon. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Think of a B-grade "Bulworth" with lesser talents than A-listers Warren Beatty and Halle Berry. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Flashes of inspiration illuminate stretches of routine sitcom material; it's the kind of movie where the audience laughs loudly and then falls silent for the next five minutes. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
Most Wanted isn't aiming for social commentary, but it isn't too difficult to enjoy its good-natured humor. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
An unerring sign of the awfulness of Malibu's Most Wanted is a series of the least funny outtakes ever appended to a movie's closing credits. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Ultimately implodes, letting down the 'hood, hip-hoppers and Jamie Kennedy fans looking forward to his first major starring role. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
After an hour, or two-thirds of the film, they run out of gas. This is the kind of material that's easier to set up than it is to bring together in a satisfying fashion. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Think Jerry Lewis doing Eminem, or maybe it's Eminem doing Jerry Lewis (or maybe it's Pauly Shore doing Vanilla Ice), and you've got B-Rad. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Too bad the film, which Kennedy spun from a stand-up skit, remains as blissfully unaware of its possibilities as B-Rad is of his absurdity. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleC.W. Nevius
A small triumph for lowered expectations. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
The film delivers some genuine laughs — Diggs and Anderson are a hoot throughout — and real rapper Snoop Dogg all but steals the picture with his brief voice turn as Ronnie Rizzat. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Any movie that lumps Mr. O'Neal, Ms. Derek and Snoop Dogg (as the voice of a gangsta-rap answer to Stuart Little) under the same title can't be all bad. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Has laugh-out-loud moments of inspired idiocy. The problem is that this one-joke skit (done first and better by Britain's Ali G) has been given the Hamburger Helper treatment and stretched to feature length. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneLoren King
Doesn't aim for more than padding a plot around Kennedy so he can do his Brad "B-Rad" Gluckman character full-force. And the joke soon wears thin. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
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. Read full review
50
Washington PostJen Chaney
Wanted isn't quite the real Slim Shady of hip-hop comedies. But you might lose yourself in a few of its amusing moments. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A send-up of rap personality in which no one actually has a personality. The joke, alas, is on the movie. Read full review
40
SalonCharles Taylor
If only Malibu's Most Wanted had been a little more daring, it might have managed to satirize the playacting ludicrousness of gangsta style. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
Amiable but not especially funny film. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Malibu's screenplay inexplicably required the creative efforts of four screenwriters (including Kennedy), which works out to about half a funny gag apiece. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Victor Dwyer
So far as I can remember, no such film has ever asked its audience to experience the level of excruciating discomfort an actual fish must feel when it is gored by a sharp hook, yanked into the air, and left to flail in desperation before succumbing to an agonizing death... Until now. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The film feels like a truly awful "Saturday Night Live" sketch padded out to such unholy lengths as to make "It's Pat" seems like a comic masterstroke. Read full review
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