Poolhall Junkies
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: February 28, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
7
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Chicago ReaderStaff (not credited)
The movie can't live up to Robert Rossen's 1961 classic, "The Hustler" but with its strong performances, neatly crafted script, and low-budget feel, it comes a lot closer than "The Color of Money." Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
One of the things I like best about Poolhall Junkies is its lack of grim desperation. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Brassy and energetic, first-time director Mars Callahan's vividly photographed ode to the seductive allure of professional sharking succeeds in making the game seem genuinely kinetic and thrilling. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Callahan mostly overcomes its grungy technical quality with entertaining dialogue, nervy confrontation scenes, decent thesping and some truly spectacular shooting on the green velvet. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
For all his skill with a cue, the charisma-challenged Callahan is no Nia Vardalos in the acting department -- let alone a Paul Newman or Tom Cruise. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Like too many sports-related movies, this one falls back on that One Big Game, the final score that will set everything right. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
It isn't that nothing happens in Poolhall Junkies, it's that nothing interesting does. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
The result is by no means the embarrassment that many such offerings from unjustifiably vain actor-auteurs have been, but nor does it present much of anything new or compelling to demand one's attention. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The proliferating subplots require many big emotional confrontations, so the movie seems to reach its climax 20 minutes in, and then every 15 minutes or so thereafter. This is fairly exhausting. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Stole so many details from the earlier film, "The Hustler," that you have to think of it as either a bad parody or an unfortunate homage. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
If the art of a true hustler is, as Joe puts it, "beating a man out of his money and making him like it," Callahan blows it big-time with any mark who shells out to see his film. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
Callahan's feature debut is a one-way ticket to Palookaville. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Plays out like a variation on an old design dictum: If you can't make it good, make it big. Read full review
10
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Looks like a cheap polyester suit, an entirely synthetic composite of scenes from other movies. Read full review
0
Village VoiceDavid Ng
A movie that, in its unconditional embrace of an all-male subculture, amounts to little more than a rote circle jerk. Read full review
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