True Crime
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 19, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
This is an old-fashioned movie done with wit, grace, smarts and style. [19 March 1999, Friday, p.A]
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
True Crime gives you sleaze on toast--a heap of tabloid bathos, a dusting of high-mindedness, a dash of gallows humor. It's a bizarre concoction, but it's riveting. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Directed by Eastwood with righteous indignation and increasingly strong momentum. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
An electrically paced and brilliantly acted death-row thriller. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Eastwood's latest picture boasts tight storytelling, sharp acting and an eye for unexpected, enlivening detail. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRussell Smith
When Eastwood is at the top of his form -- as he is for much of this film -- there's no more spellbinding storyteller in American cinema. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It would be even better if Eastwood followed his character's lead and emphasized "real issues" over "human interest" in a story that touches on important social problems without doing much to illuminate them. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyMarc Bernardin
Woefully misconceived reporter-saves-innocent-man-from-execution cheese grater. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Wickedly effective thriller. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Has the potential to be a truly memorable film, and, for more than three-quarters of its running time, it is poised to live up to that potential. But then there are the final twenty minutes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
It's hokey, implausible and packed with red herrings, and yet it's a lot of fun. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
As disappointing-but-worthwhile films go, you could do a lot worse. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
An anti-capital-punishment polemic that won't change a single mind anywhere on Earth but will entertain well enough everywhere on Earth. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
In political terms, True Crime is a far cry from "Dirty Harry" -- it actually stands up for due process of law. In Hollywood, I believe this is known as mellowing. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Eastwood is a more forceful actor than he was twenty years ago--less opaque, less stylized, and altogether more idiosyncratic. He's too old and unsuited by temperament to play the tough city newspaper reporter in this film, but he still has an authority that few younger actors could match. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
At first it's a kick to watch Clint Eastwood play Steve Everett, a horn-dog newsman...Is Clint being Clinton-esque? Even if he's not, these scenes are the liveliest part of this dog-tired movie. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Thankfully, this time Eastwood flirts (and ogles) but stops just short of going completely over the top. [19 March 1999, Life, p.13E]
60
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Eastwood has never seemed less the persona he has built through the decades, the calm yet commanding center of a storm. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The geological equivalent of an albatross around the neck. It's another of those Warner Bros. productions that are heavy on star iconography and production values but AWOL on story. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It's a gritty story made in the director's more elegiacal mode, a confusion of style and content that is not in the film's best interests. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Eastwood himself, pushing 70 but cruising women in their early 20s, counts on more goodwill than I can muster. I wasn't bored, but my suspension of disbelief collapsed well before the end. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverHal Hinson
The whole project feels lazy and half-hearted. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Plays like a lost Rockford file. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Eastwood, ironically, is the weak link in the cast, a less-than-ideal choice to play a screw-up who squeaks through life on personal magnetism: He's got star quality, sure, even a certain remote sexiness, but he's no charmer. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A ridiculous deus-ex-machina "wrong man" story. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
On the whole, the film is content to lumber awkwardly between the condemned man on death row and the intrepid reporter on his save-a-life beat -- there's about as much rhythm in the style as there is sense in the plot. Read full review
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