Starsky & Hutch
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 5, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
15
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireColin Kennedy
Goofy and easygoing, Starsky & Hutch is not exactly politically correct, but you'd be hard pushed to find a single mean frame. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Were detective Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and his partner, Ken Hutchinson (David Soul), hot for each other when they started working undercover in Bay City?... you can watch Starsky and Hutch on the big screen and see subtext stiffen into hard and hilarious evidence. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The key to the film's success is that it uses the burned out premise as the springboard for a comedy, not an action flick. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The new buddy comedy movie that assumes the names of the series' characters and features the same hot-to-trot, tomato-red and shocking-white 1974 Ford Gran Torino is more fun than a Heidi Fleiss open house. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A surprisingly funny movie, the best of the 1970s recycling jobs, with one laugh ("Are you OK, little pony?") almost as funny as the moment in "Dumb and Dumber" when the kid figured out his parakeet's head was Scotch-taped on. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
There may be no crying need for this movie, but we could use the laughs. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
What this alteration says about societal trends of the past three decades is open to debate, but the change is a tiny hint that earnest fidelity to the source was not a top priority. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Funny throughout, but with a handful of really hilarious moments. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
A campy riot of retro cool, a warm and fuzzy ode to the '70s buddy cops. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A textbook example of how a remade '70s show can feel like an enjoyable lark rather than cultural recycling run amok. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The movie's advertising tagline ("Starsky & Hutch — they're the Man") needs to be amended. The film belongs, completely and utterly, to Snoop Dogg. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Stiller and Wilson are still hilarious as the supercool detectives -- there hasn't been a comedy duo this good since John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A perfect example of a really good not-great movie, the kind that would be classified as a guilty pleasure were it not executed with guilt-free honesty and good nature. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
To turn fondly remembered TV trash into a movie that knows it's cruddy -- and that isn't, therefore, quite as cruddy as it might have been -- takes a perverse pinch of talent, if not style. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The highlight of this satirical remake of ABC's mid-Seventies buddy-cop anomaly is named, unsurprisingly, Will Ferrell. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
This is a profoundly unambitious movie, a '70s cop show spoof that aims to provoke a few giggles, and that's about it. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The second-best film parody (after The Brady Bunch Movie) of a '70s TV phenom that unaccountably looks better the further you get from it. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
There's a surprising sweetness in the bond between the two cops. The gay subtext of the partnership is used for humour but it's never sniggering or mean. Read full review
63
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Its abundant laughs are heavily reliant on the chemistry of stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson - who show once again that they're as fine a comic team as Hollywood has ever produced. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Stealing the movie, however, is rapper Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear, the pimp/informant originally portrayed by Antonio Fargas on the TV show. Read full review
63
PremiereKelly Borgeson
Vince Vaughn is terrific as the baddie. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDennis Lim
S&H's chief pleasure is the spontaneous, sometimes quite touching rapport between the two stars. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Cruises along agreeably on the easy chemistry between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, who step in where Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul left off. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
What's wrong with this picture? Nothing, as long as you don't expect more than a tossed-off goof.
60
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
What modest pleasure the film affords is largely thanks to the charisma of its genial stars. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Wilson's shtick actually works better with Stiller than it did with either of his former partners, Jackie Chan and Eddie Murphy. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
Starsky & Hutch has moments of hilarity a little greater than you might expect of a movie that is just out for a lazy good time. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Starsky & Hutch is less homage to an old cop show than a tribute to the people who made the movie--a circle pat on the back. And no obvious joke goes untouched. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Whether or not you think Starsky & Hutch is funny -- and I did, though intermittently and in spasms -- you have to admire it for being the first openly gay cop-buddy comedy from a big studio. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The title characters are wittily crafted by Messrs. Stiller and Wilson, and Snoop Dogg is a riot as Huggy Bear. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
There are no comic highs, as in a Mike Myers parody, but no action highs, either. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Even as a nostalgia ride, Starsky & Hutch poops out before it ever gets going. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Stiller's performance throws the whole enterprise out of whack -- he's a grotesque mass of tics, twitches and swaggering macho shoulder action. Read full review
50
VarietyBrian Lowry
Blessed with sporadic moments of cheeky fun, isn't painful but seldom advances beyond costumes and hairstyling in terms of creativity. Read full review
40
NewsweekDevin Gordon
There are no ideas, just repartee. Snoop Dogg, as a superfly snitch, and Vince Vaughn, as a drug lord, are wasted in obvious supporting roles. It's harmless fun--and too lazy to be more. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Because no one involved with Starsky & Hutch actually seems to care about the movie, all Wilson can do is idle in neutral while Stiller frantically shifts gears, looking for an excuse to split. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Ends with a bunch of goofy outtakes--which are as dismal as the rest of the movie. How do you decide what to leave out when there's nothing worth keeping in? Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
This depressingly uninspired action-comedy (based on the 1975–79 TV series) is Hollywood’s latest McMovie -- name-brand recognition as raison d’être or, if you will, creative bankruptcy on a very large scale. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The scattershot nature of the script, which feels as if it had been made up on the spot, leaves the actors looking like they're enjoying some private joke not shared with the audience. Self-indulgent does not even begin to describe it. Read full review
10
Film ThreatEric Campos
This tired old pile of garbage will hopefully be chased out of town soon. Read full review
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