While most band documentaries wade through sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, this one has no sex, no drugs, and the kind of rock 'n' roll that reminds one of their fans of "something I'd hear at a dorm party."

Has the outer form of a brave statement about the races in America, but the soul of a sports movie in which everything is settled by the obligatory last play in the last seconds of the championship game.

It's a movie with so many inconsistencies, improbabilities, unanswered questions and unfinished characters that we have to suspend not only disbelief but also intelligence.

Wickedly funny.

Has slick production credits and performances that are quite adequate given the (narrow) opportunities of the genre.

This is the kind of movie you sort of like, and yet even while you're liking it, you're thinking how much better these characters and this situation could have been with a little more imagination and daring.

It is a bold, reckless gesture.

One of those movies where the audience knows the message before the film begins and the characters are still learning it when the film ends.

A valuable, heartbreaking film about the way those resources are plugged into a system, drained of their usefulness and discarded.

Never comes alive.

A messy but hungry film like this is more interesting than cool technical perfection.

It's over the top, an exercise in action comedy that cuts loose from logic and enjoys itself.

Has little islands of humor and even perfection, floating in a sea of missed marks and murky intentions.

Oh, what a lovely film. I was almost hugging myself while I watched it.

There's a good story buried somewhere in this melee.

I would rather see one movie like this than a thousand "Bring It Ons."

A tender and passionate protest, not without laughter, by Bertrand Tavernier -- a director who is not only gifted but honorable.

One of those films where you don't know whether to laugh or cringe, and find yourself doing both. It's a challenge: How do we respond to this loaded material?

The actors cannot be faulted. They bring more to the story than it really deserves.

Very seriously confused in its objectives.

Portrait of men and a few women who stubbornly try to maintain some dignity in the face of personal disaster.

A strange mutant beast, half Nickelodeon movie, half R-rated comedy. It's like kids with potty-mouth playing grownup.

With Solomon & Gaenor, it is hard to overlook the folly of the characters. Does it count as a tragedy when the characters get more or less what they were asking for?

Has a freshness and charm, a winning way with its not terrifically original material.

Chalk is not the kind of movie many people will appreciate at first viewing. You have to understand who Nilsson and his actors are, and give some thought to the style, to appreciate it.

Might be fun for younger teenagers who want to be reassured that people in their 30s still behave like younger teenagers.

The Crew is all contrivance and we don't believe a minute of it.

This human level is always there beneath the thriller elements. The screenplay takes care to bring the crime story and the personal histories together, so that even the crossed lines of romance work as plot points, not just sentiment.