The Dark Backward
August Entertainment | Release Date: March 9, 1991 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Rifkin has spun a pitch-black fable of show business at its sleaziest and most ephemeral. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Rifkin has fashioned a crawly little movie that underscores the Faustian price of fame in a way that few recent films have managed. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyMichael Sauter
Somewhere here, an ironic show-biz parable is trying to take shape. But director Adam Rifkin generally ignores it, preferring to flaunt the chops he has borrowed from David Lynch and John Waters. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Mr. Rifkin's direction does display, in addition to an appreciation of Mr. Lynch and perhaps John Waters, a promising eye for design and a taste for the unusual. With less noxious material and a less patronizing manner, those talents would amount to a lot more. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
The film's sense of humor is relentlessly smutty. Rifkin attempts to wring laughs from gross food, breasts, garbage and sex with fat women. He is largely unsuccessful. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Rifkin has conjured up a new low in cinematic ineptitude. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesJohn Hartl
This stupefyingly unfunny attempt to create a midnight cult movie stars Judd Nelson as a talentless stand-up comic who becomes a celebrity when he grows a third arm out of the middle of his back. [26 Mar 1992, p.E2]
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