Play It to the Bone
Touchstone Home Video | Release Date: December 25, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
7
Negative:
20
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A wonderfully entertaining, raunchy, hilarious and savage foray into the lives of a couple of beat-up middle-weight boxers who get a second chance. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Either Shelton knows this world well, or he's such a great bluffer it doesn't matter. Read full review
75
USA TodayStaff [Not Credited]
Another invigorating, extremely raunchy sports movie from Ron Shelton . Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Throws us directly into the ring for one of the most brutal fight scenes in American film. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Fghting your heart out at the end of this movie can't win the prize or the crowd. Read full review
63
San Francisco ExaminerEdvins Beitiks
A wicked, light-headed first half dissolves into a bloody, head-bashing second half . The previews make it seem like a comedy. It isn't. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A boxing film with no conflictual punch. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The film is nothing much to look at and has trouble swallowing its own clichs and implausibilities. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Benefits from an amiable chemistry between Harrelson and Banderas, and Davidovich always makes a good tough-as-nails dame with more smarts than any man will give her credit for. Read full review
50
Film.comTom Keogh
This is still Ron Shelton in good -- not great, but good -- form here, and the rewards are plentiful. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
Vince and Cesar have been written to evoke equal audience sympathy, so there's no suspense whatsover in the outcome of their climactic match-up, the brutal realism of Shelton's staging notwithstanding. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Even when his work is at its most contrived, which it certainly is here, writer-director Ron Shelton is the best purveyor of jock humor around. Read full review
40
Rolling StonePeter Travers
(Shelton) knows how to write pungent dialogue that covers a multitude of sins when the film goes off the rails.
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Ron Shelton's boxing pic is long on road work but strictly a flyweight. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie doesn't know how odd it seems to cut from the bloodshed in the ring to the dialogue of the supporting players, who still think they're in a comedy. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
This is no "Raging Bull." Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Isn't going to be a contender Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
A punch-drunk lightweight. Inside the ring, it lands some forceful punches. Outside the ring, it stumbles around, swinging wildly at nothing, until it collapses. Read full review
38
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's bone tired. Read full review
32
Mr. ShowbizLarry Terenzi
Shelton attempts to fashion a kind of road movie-love triangle-sports flick. He fails on all three counts. Read full review
30
NewsweekKevin Stuart
A half-hearted comedy whose jokes are far from a knockout. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldSara Wildberger
If you really love "Bull Durham," don't go near Play It to the Bone. It will break your heart. Read full review
25
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
In this movie, he (Shelton) falls so hard he becomes, for the first time in his career, genuinely offensive. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
As dopey as its heroes, and the cast's admirable energy isn't enough to keep the story punching through the final round. Read full review
20
TimeRichard Schickel
Never achieves more than feckless amiability. Read full review
20
VarietyRobert Koehler
A woefully under-realized story of small-time boxers enjoying perhaps their last moment in the spotlight. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Does not live up to its name. It's more like White Men Can't Box, Either. Read full review
20
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Are they fools or heroes? Because the movie can't decide, neither can we. And without an emotional payoff, Play It to the Bone ends up stranded in serio-comic limbo. Read full review
20
Washington PostRita Kempley
As dull as the decor in a Motel 6. Read full review
10
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Doesn't quite have the goods. Read full review
10
TNT RoughCutKellam Eanes
Despite some redeemable comic dialog between Banderas and Harrelson, most of the movie is TKO. Read full review
10
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The journey is a yawn -- an outpouring of backstory, punctuated by cute episodic diversions and ill-advised running gags. Read full review
10
Dallas ObserverDavid Ehrenstein
A road movie trapped in a cul-de-sac. Read full review
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