The Hebrew Hammer
Comedy Central | Release Date: December 19, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A wickedly funny, Naked Gun-style parody that conflates old-style private-eye pics with Shaft and, yes, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Read full review
60
Film ThreatStaff (Not credited)
Writer/director John Kesselman serves up a stylin' live-action spoof that irreverently milks stereotypes and bravely pokes fun at that which is usually sacrosanct. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
You don't have to be Jewish to love Jonathan Kesselman's uneven, profane and occasionally flat-out hilarious parody of vintage blaxploitation pictures, but it helps. Read full review
50
VarietyDavid Rooney
Although amusing as often as not, the material remains more comedy-sketch fodder than a fully developed feature. Read full review
50
New York PostMegan Lehmann
A hit-and-miss affair. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
This circumcised "Shaft" plays half-awesome, half-aw-shit; it exists almost as if to prove you can cram every Jewish joke in the Old Testament into a single movie. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Ultimately more interested in exploiting clichés than subverting or commenting on them, and Coyote and Dunn's grotesque caricatures are embarrassing. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The result is explicit, if less than hilarious. The Hebrew Hammer lacks the edge of Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song," although as anti-seasonal fare, it would make a suitably unbearable double bill with Terry Zwigoff's "Bad Santa." Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
But the corker-to-groaner ratio heavily favors the latter as the bagel-and-dreidel jokes begin to lose their spark, as does the story Read full review
40
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Would have worked brilliantly as a five-minute late-night comedy sketch, flogs its premise for nearly an hour and a half, generating too few laughs to justify the enterprise. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Unfunny rather than outrageous as intended. Read full review
30
Washington PostMark Jenkins
Desperation is the project's principal quality, characterizing everything from the misfiring jokes to the surprisingly distinguished cast. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A crass, sophomoric and, more to the point, offensively unfunny parody that sets out to remake Shaft and his blaxploitation ilk as a Jewish action hero. Read full review
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