The Limey
Artisan Entertainment | Release Date: October 8, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A near-perfect movie. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
A first-rate crime thriller and further proof that Soderbergh is one of our great contemporary film stylists. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A small cubist masterpiece about crime and punishment set in that most split-level of environments, Los Angeles. Read full review
100
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Makes a term like neo-noir seem like a fatuous catch phrase. Read full review
90
Film.comTom Keogh
One of the best films seen in many years about the mysterious workings of time and memory. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The work of a fine craftsman and artist. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerDesmond Ryan
The pleasure of The Limey lies in watching what actors who have aged like fine wine can do in that world. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Stamp, whose ability to make Wilson simultaneously coarse and charismatic is irresistibly entertaining. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Intoxicatingly well-crafted entertainment about hunting down your enemy. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
One of those movies in which pacing, dialogue and the right actors enliven a familiar story. Read full review
80
SalonCharles Taylor
An art noir that courts pretension but just manages to keep from succumbing to it. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
More involving and intriguing than any by-the-numbers studio thriller. In large part, it holds our interest because of its stylistic boldness, not despite it. Read full review
80
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A mesmerizing mood piece.
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A solid genre film that offers the satisfactions of the familiar while deriving its resonance through its specific and telling references to the '60s. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
A wonderfully complex character at the center of a gratifyingly satisfying yarn. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Style is the main attraction in The Limey -- it's as close to experimental filmmaking as mainstream movies get -- but the film works well when taken simply as a pure revenge drama, too. Read full review
75
New York PostJonathan Foreman
It's clever, cool fun and it looks great. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
In its quiet and murderous way, it is like the delayed final act of an old movie about drugs, guns and revenge. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The violent story is standard "film noir" fare, but Soderbergh treats it with oomph and imagination. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Among Soderbergh's widely varied films ("sex, lies and videotape," "Kafka," "The Underneath," "Schizopolis," "Out of Sight"), this one actually has the best chance of becoming anyone's sentimental favorite. Read full review
70
Film.comPeter Brunette
Tender souls who don't like a lot of noise and violence should probably stay away from this very in-your-face film. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
(Stamp and Fonda's) polar-opposition in acting styles and temperament, their cultural differences and their pop-cultural synergy come together with almost delicious cacophony. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
A highly enjoyable and offbeat thriller. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This intelligent, oddly aloof thriller is a worthy follow-up to director Steven Soderberg's "Out of Sight." Read full review
67
Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson
It's such an accomplished, beguiling film in its details that you almost don't notice that the story is scattershot, arbitrary, and thin -- almost. Read full review
65
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
Soderbergh, like Tarantino, has a knack for making every shady character onscreen fascinating. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Can't outrun its very visible limits. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A jaggedly impressionistic reverie. Read full review
60
VarietyEmanuel Levy
One has no problem praising the bravura acting of the entire ensemble. Read full review
60
Film.comJohn Hartl
Perhaps you have to have lived through the 1960s to relate. Read full review
40
TimeRichard Corliss
Soderbergh slices, dices and Cuisinarts the script into flashbacks, scene shifts, stop motion and other distracting foolery. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
A disappointed meditation on the '60s. Read full review
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