The Long Kiss Goodnight
New Line Cinema | Release Date: October 11, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
5
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireDavid Eimer
Most of the fun comes from the Davis/Jackson pairing and some frantic action scenes, though problems include too many "meanigful" close-ups of cigarettes being lit and booming (appropriately) sound. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Though some of the violence is nastier than it needs to be and the obligatory climactic melee, complete with choppers, skidding trucks and explosions, overstays its welcome, The Long Kiss Goodnight stays fun because it plays its heroine's split personality for laughs, not trauma. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
Writer Shane Black mines his thriller premise while musing on issues of identity and redemption; he also shaped the itchy camaraderie of Davis and Jackson. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Geena Davis and her director and husband, Renny Harlin, recover from their "Cutthroat Island" fiasco in grand style, and screenwriter Shane Black ("The Last Boy Scout") juggles jolts and jokes with a mad fervor that almost earns him his $4 million salary. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
With the help of his stunt and special effects teams, Harlin delivers more than enough goods to satisfy genre fans, so main question is whether a female action hero, and Davis in particular, is ready to be embraced by the huge public the film is clearly targeting. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The movie is a lot of fun if you don't think about it too much, the stuntwork should satisfy the genre fanatics in the crowd even though it doesn't set any new plateaus, and the rapport between Davis and Jackson is enough to keep the sticklers for realism in abeyance at least until the final credits roll. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I liked it in the same way I might like an arcade game: It holds your attention until you run out of quarters, and then you wander away without giving it another thought. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Great premise, terrible execution. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineStaff (not credited)
This is the kind of movie in which a dozen bad guys with an automatic weapon in each hand couldn't hit a lake if they were standing at the bottom of it, to steal the screenplay's best wiseacre remark. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A tour de force of technical brilliance, with flashes of humor and a wild spirit of adventure signifying that you're not supposed to take it too seriously, but the cumulative impact of its avalanche of mayhem is so numbing that it's enough to shrivel your soul. Read full review
50
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Mr. Black's screenplay is mean-spirited, but it earns its keep with sharp, sarcastic dialogue and ingenious ways of setting up this story. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
One of the most blithely, giddily ridiculous movies to come along in ages. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
Ultimately, however, Kiss is too ridiculous to engage us as a thriller yet too cringingly self-conscious to amuse us as camp. Read full review
40
Washington PostRita Kempley
Unfortunately, the filmmaking couple take the fetishistic masquerade far too seriously. They may describe it as a "departure" from traditional fare, but it's simply the same old action-packed guff. Read full review
38
USA TodayMike Clark
The movie tries to juggle motherly love sentiment with wanna-be snappy ripostes with a violent streak that extends to threatening a grade-schooler with blinding and busted kneecaps. [11 Oct 1996, Pg.03.D]
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
A "nonstop thriller" that is also a nonstop dud. Underline the word "long" in the title. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The suspense sequences are straight from the standard Hollywood blueprint, and the movie as a whole is so sloppily assembled that it's almost incoherent at times. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The problem with this movie is the problem with most Renny Harlin movies: There's an excessive amount of excess -- a mind-numbing plurality of firearm battles, vehicular explosions and brutally frank sexual talk. Read full review
0
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
If you haven't lived until you've heard Geena Davis say "Suck my dick," New Line probably deserves your money. Read full review
0
Dallas ObserverJimmy Fowler
The long hours Davis says she spent training with knives and guns can't rescue her character from drowning in the story's hokiness. Fans will be aghast at what they see--a movie so garish and silly, even Geena Davis can't save it. Read full review
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