The Hot Spot
Orion Pictures Corporation | Release Date: October 12, 1990 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The Hot Spot, his film noir set in a small, sex-starved Texas backwater, is the closest Mr. Hopper has yet come to working within the bounds of a familiar genre. Nevertheless, The Hot Spot bears the film maker's idiosyncratic stamp all the way. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesPeter Rainer
The pulpiness is less homage than rip-off. There are no tricks up this film's frayed sleeve… Fatalism plus a lot of heavy breathing, and a flash of skin--it's a winning formula, all right. These movies are like Harlequin Romances for slumming highbrows [12 Oct 1990]
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Pretty enjoyable as a piece of campy sleaze--especially for the first half hour, before the storytelling starts to dawdle. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Part of the problem is its length; at two hours and ten minutes it meanders rather than building up a head of steam and barreling straight through logic and plausibility on the way to Hell. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyMelissa Pierson
It's also supposed to be atmospheric, noirish, and touched with nihilism. But the director, Hollywood bad boy Dennis Hopper, lays it all on so thick that the film verges on self-parody. Read full review
40
Washington PostHal Hinson
Madsen may not be the most egregiously untalented of the new movie beauties, but she's close to it. As Dolly, she presents a Southern accent as ludicrous as any in captivity; she keeps trying for Blanche DuBois and coming out with Gomer Pyle. Read full review
40
EmpireKim Newman
Director Dennis Hopper continues the fumbling manner of "Colors" and the forthcoming-but-disowned "Catchfire," drawing out what ought to be a 72 minute B-picture into two hours and ten minutes of sweaty silliness with three pretty stars who can't quite bring themselves to be camp enough for the material. Read full review
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