Out of Time
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: October 3, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
63
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
16
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's a twisty, hell-for-leather crime thriller, and director Carl Franklin gives it all the slick, modern trimmings. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Entertainingly deft sleight-of-hand thriller. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A bleakly comic, palm-sweaty hoot. Read full review
80
SalonCharles Taylor
Starts out as noir, takes a shift into something like deadpan screwball comedy and ends up as a comedy of remarriage. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mr. Franklin has always been easy with quicksilver moods -- and Mr. Washington is terrifically appealing as a fool for love who loses his cool as he learns about fear.
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
I reckon 90 of the movie's 106 minutes are thriller heaven. The windup, alas, isn't in the same league: Both humdrum and confusingly staged, it pales beside the volcanic climaxes of Franklin's "One False Move" (1992) and "Devil in a Blue Dress." Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The more preposterous Out of Time gets, the more enjoyable the movie becomes. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Franklin has enormous fun using these varied technologies to ramp up the suspense in a movie that is the most purely entertaining thriller since "No Way Out." Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Suspension of disbelief, always necessary in a thriller, is required here in wholesale quantities. But in a movie like Out of Time I'm not looking for realism, I'm looking for a sense of style brought to genre material. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The tension of Matt having to work alongside his wife without being able to trust her provides the movie's real electricity, sexual and otherwise. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Steamy and solidly entertaining. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A shrewd thriller that takes the time-honored plot about an innocent man wrongfully accused and gives it a film-noir twist. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's a kick to watch Denzel Washington do a movie just for the hot, sexy fun of it. Read full review
70
Village VoiceScott Foundas
In apparent atonement for whatever wayward thinking led him down the Freeman-Judd path, Franklin has transformed Out of Time into a highly felicitous comedy of infidelities and busted-up romances. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The movie is casually, glamorously multiracial, and Washington is great fun, but the final glory belongs to actor John Billingsley, who plays one of those rumpled minor characters plugged into thrillers to keep you guessing whether they're light relief or something more sinister, and who, in a few memorably funny scenes, shuffles away with the movie. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
There's something about the movie that sets it apart from the usual thriller. Franklin may not be a master of genre like Hammett and Chandler, but he knows that it means SOMETHING when a character throws a punch or fires a gun. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Until that sugar coating at the end, Out of Time is clever, believable and gripping, and seems to be headed to a wondrous, bad place as it carefully modulates classic '40s themes. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Although budding star Mendes and Washington sparked in "Training Day," there's less chemistry between them this time as she glowers and frets in her role as a big-city cop. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
An overly constructed little thriller that squeezes a fair amount of suspense out of its far-fetched plot. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Cross "Body Heat" with "No Way Out" and you wind up with Out of Time, a slick crime melodrama with more style than substance. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A tasty if wildly far-fetched thriller, Out of Time proves far stronger in its characterizations than in developing genuine suspense. Read full review
60
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Kind of meaningless--a thriller with delights that wear off before the credits even roll, a movie you might have watched on cable some Saturday afternoon and decided you didn't really waste that much time. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
I guessed the big plot twist as soon as Franklin began setting it up, which gave me a good 40 minutes to appreciate the fine supporting cast and weathered coastal Florida locations while waiting for Washington's character to catch up with me. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Washington makes it fun, which is about the best it could hope for. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
A crime thriller that is strong on sultry atmosphere--you practically break into a sweat watching it--but weak on believability. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Disappointing, but barely watchable. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The two of them (Washington/Mendez) together, playing police-procedural dodgeball, make for a good movie. Too bad there are other people on the team, and that the pre-game show runs so long. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Except for Sanaa Lathan, who sears the screen in a brief appearance, director Carl Franklin and his cast seem to realize they're making a second-tier thriller. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It's a serviceable picture, but hardly a top-notch vehicle for Washington's remarkable gifts. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Out of Time seems out of another time and place. Remember "Presumed Innocent?" Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Although it is briskly directed and enjoyably stylized, the film is shallow -- but empty. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Out of Time is severely out of whack, and the problem isn't hard to locate: It's all that flab in the thriller. It's a suspense flick so pillowy soft that the star gets bumped from the centre of the frame and the comic relief sneaks in to swipe the picture. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Does little to dispel the creeping feeling that Washington’s getting himself in something of a rut. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Dave Collard's preposterous script relies heavily on fortuitous coincidence... and thoroughly stupid behavior. Read full review
40
EmpireScott Russon
Another thriller absent of any real thrills. Read full review
More From This Movie

63 Critic Reviews

8.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL