Undermines its serious undertones with an avalanche of smirky cynicism designed to flatter the hipper-than-thou fantasies of adolescent moviegoers.

Old-fashioned storytelling.

As clumsy as its title.

Shallow and sentimental in the sappiest Hollywood tradition.

The violent story is standard "film noir" fare, but Soderbergh treats it with oomph and imagination.

Swank gives one of the year's most complex and hard-hitting performances in the demanding central role.

Quirky acting combines with Ferrara's dark, brooding style to give the throwaway story a noteworthy measure of dramatic and cinematic interest.

Russell's stylish and imaginative filmmaking wages its own war against lunkheaded and sometimes offensive material.

This good-natured comedy serves up plenty of laughs while suggesting that the best experts in human psychology are plain old humans.

The story is unmemorable, but the characters are engaging and their predicaments are all too recognizable.

More cautionary than titillating...some of it (is) deliberately disturbing.

This sentimental drama is wildly uneven as it switches between ballpark scenes, which are very involving, and romantic episodes, which are badly overplayed.

Closer to an infomercial than a serious study, but it serves up plenty of rowdy humor.

Araki graduates from his usual obsession with teenage angst in this neon-lighted comedy, but fails to hit the visual and verbal high notes he strains so hard to reach.

A ruthless dissection of suburban malaise.

Excellent acting and a finely tuned screenplay spark this genuinely offbeat melodrama.

Their shenanigans rarely run short of explosive energy.

Fantasy-style plot doesn't mesh easily with the unsettling psychological themes woven through it.

The story is lively and energetic, if you can take its raunchy jokes and rowdy behavior.

It's so clean a film, you could bring your grandmother.

Moviegoers tired of ethnic humor will find plenty to complain about.

Bowfinger is mediocre . . . can be irksome, tedious, and hard to sit through.

The movie will disappoint people expecting a genuine superhero epic or an over-the-top spoof. But those in the mood for an offbeat satire with a gifted cast will have a surprisingly good time.

This remarkably clever, often hilarious animation derives much of its humor from its satirical view of the 1950s.

The thriller's best and worst features all stem from a highly unusual plot structure that builds to a genuinely startling conclusion.

The screenplay provides enough cute one-liners and love-struck speeches to give the comedy intermittent charm.

The Haunting can't quite decide whether it's an out-and-out thriller, a psychological drama, or a systematic demonstration of the latest computer-generated effects. But it should attract big crowds for a weekend or two on the strength of its attractive stars and deliciously spooky setting.

Brilliantly filmed in his usual transfixing style, Kubrick's last movie pleads for alertness to the temptations that assail human nature from within and without.

The movie would be better as a 30-minute short, though, since its shaky camera work and fuzzy images get monotonous after a while, and there's not much room for character development within the very limited plot.

It falls short of Assayas's most inventive work, but reconfirms his ability to ferret out hidden facets of the personalities he explores. [09 Jul 1999, p.14]

Labors mightily to be as offensive and obnoxious as possible. It's inventive in an idiotic sort of way, though, and pauses occasionally to make serious points about movie violence and censorship.

There's no over-the-top music or comedy sequence to place this with the very best Disney animations, though, and Phil Collins's songs won't be to everyone's taste.

Tykwer's style gives the movie an explosive energy that never quits, marking him as the most ingenious new talent to hail from Germany in ages.

Girard invests each episode of this production with dramatic credibility and emotional strength.

The satire is crammed with sexual and scatological humor; some may find this Rabelaisian and refreshing, while others will detect the end of civilization as we know it.

Sayles takes great storytelling risks to explore this theme; his unusual approach will please some viewers and irritate others. [04 Jun 1999, p.14]

There's some very funny dialogue, but the picture falls apart when it tries to think real thoughts about celebrity, publicity, and the media.

Darkly elegant cinematography helps compensate for awful dialogue and lackluster acting.

The movie paints a vivid portrait of a time and place, but falls back on familiar formulas that diminish its value as both emotional drama and slice-of-life realism.

The nonlinear story consists of loosely linked fragments, some more effective than others, threaded together in a broodingly poetic way.

Angelopoulos paints the screen with appealing images, but the story and acting lack the special charge that might have lifted this drama to the high level of his greatest work. [28 May 1999, p.14]

The computer-driven effects are impressive, but the adventure is hampered by a flat screenplay, dull acting, and just a hint as to why the dark side of the Force will eventually transform cute little Anakin into the evil Darth Vader.

If the picture is often less spellbinding than it wants to be, it's partly Hoffman's fault for creating fantasy moods through traditional stage devices -- lavish props, cute makeup, peek-a-boo costumes -- that seem rather tame for this age of morphed-up visual surprises.

Long, bombastic, and violent, but fantasy fans may enjoy its fast-moving energy.

This is the kind of movie that literate viewers pine for, laced with gracefulness and wit.

Viewers should stay far away unless they have a strong stomach for deliberately disgusting effects.

Broderick and Witherspoon give perfectly matched performances at the head of a first-rate cast.

A lovestruck Californian kidnaps a neighbor's dog as a way of getting her attention.

Bids for originality by focusing on an offbeat profession. Every other aspect is pretty stale, though, from the smart-alecky characters to the romantic-triangle plot.

No show-business tradition is sturdier than the two-man comedy team, and no contemporary stars are better suited to the format than Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. Pairing them was a terrific idea.

Although some of the acting is strong, the atmosphere is so relentlessly sleazy that many moviegoers will want to go long before the final credits.

The best things about Never Been Kissed are its colorful camera work and funny dialogue.

There are a few clever lines and Cleese has some sensational moments, but that's not enough to make the farce seem fresh.

Altman is one of very few directors who could have assembled such a superb ensemble, and he makes the most of it from first scene to last.

Junger spins hilariously written scenes with split-second timing, although the story sags during its long middle portion.

The plot switches gears every time it threatens to run out of energy, which keeps the show as lively as it is preposterous.

Its screenplay veers in highly questionable directions before reaching a mean-spirited climax that outweighs Ron Howard's workmanlike filmmaking and the contributions of a star-powered cast.

Everyone works hard, but the results are sadly short of style and personality or irony and intelligence.

Bird's keen visual imagination keeps the action grimly watchable.

Romantic comedy about a bridegroom-to-be who gets sidetracked on the way to his wedding, especially by an unexpected traveling companion who's both free-spirited and beautiful.

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.

Animated version of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical.

Fans of Jacquelyn Mitchard's novel may find enough echoes of the book to justify the price of admission. But others can see this sort of thinly crafted melodrama in TV movies every week. For free.

The trite story has plenty of distasteful moments, but Wahlberg and Yun-Fat justify their growing reputations as capable Hollywood actors.

Ramis doesn't reach the comic heights of his "Groundhog Day," but the acting is excellent and the screenplay offers some hearty laughs if you can stand bursts of violence and language as foul as a Mafioso's business agenda.

The humor is as crude as the characters, but the picture has energy.

David Chappelle's performance as a cabbie is amusing, but the film should have been packaged with a Surgeon General's Warning - "Cigarettes is bad for you."

The picture is intriguing and obnoxious in equal measure; even Berkowitz gets tired of the game before it's over, but there are some laughs and surprises along the way.

Never quite catches fire.

A private eye enters a horrific world of degrading sex and bottom-feeding pornographers.

Skillfully acted, idealized, uneven.

In a surprise move, the creator of "Beavis and Butt-Head" has made a laid-back, even subtle comedy that generally favors mischievous ironies over outlandish jokes.

Here's hoping other filmmakers will follow its spirit, if not all of its methods.

Unoriginal.

The story is so sentimental that even soap-opera buffs may feel it outwears its welcome.

An interesting cast is wasted in this misanthropic thriller.

This teenage "Pygmalion" is predictable and a bit gawky, and some won't like its flashes of gross-out humor. The cast is appealing, though, and there are a few hilarious jokes tucked in around the edges of the plot. [05 Feb 1999: 14]

This modestly produced family drama has all the poignancy and humor associated with today's vibrant Iranian film industry.

The movie takes fascinating material and transforms it into a routine soap opera.

The story is mildly entertaining in its hackneyed way, but there's no excusing the picture's exploitative treatment of almost all the female characters.

Although the story seems disjointed at times, no other war movie has tried so valiantly to convey not only the suffering of combat but the awful fissures it leaves between humanity's ideal oneness with itself and the world we live in.

Nolte gives one of his most fully realized performances, Coburn makes an amazingly powerful comeback, and Schrader's filmmaking has never been more expressive or assured.

Creepy.

The movie is reasonably smart and touching when it deals with the plight of a family on the rocks, but it pushes too many emotional buttons when the ex-wife is diagnosed with a fatal illness that proceeds to take over the story.

The movie starts with insights about the need for more humane values in health care, then buries them under an avalanche of frivolities, vulgarities, and clichés.

Hanks and Ryan are as appealing as ever, and Ephron's fashion-conscious camera gives the action a slickly attractive sheen.

The filmmakers are more interested in spinning an entertaining yarn than probing the spiritual dimensions of their important subject.

Sensitive performances and intelligent storytelling keep the sometimes-violent tale involving from start to finish, marking a giant step for director Raimi, previously known for action stories and over-the-top fantasies.

This romantic farce has a talented cast and energy to spare, but somehow the ingredients don't burn as brightly as one would expect from such promising ingredients.

Anderson fulfills the promise of his inventive "Bottle Rocket" with this quirky, often hilarious comedy, and Murray gives his most uproarious performance since the groundbreaking "Groundhog Day."

Trekkers will be pleased by new characters and stunning special effects.

The story is rarely as touching or funny as it wants to be, but children may enjoy the fantasy elements. [24 Dec 1998]

The movie is often as raucous and seedy as its less-attractive characters, but it gains power from inventive acting and poignant touches.

It's so slavishly similar to its predecessor - right down to the symbolic lettering on Marion's license plates - that there's little to spark fresh discussion except the acting.

The story is amusing and the animation is first-rate, but there's less sparkling originality than in "Toy Story."

A dark comedy about a bachelor party gone awry, it is excessively violent, ghoulish, and gory. Very Bad Things is lack-of-taste taken to the extreme.

Barrymore and Busey walk away with the acting honors, but no aspect of the picture is more than mildly entertaining.

The performances are engaging and the views of rural Brazil are captivating, making the film a solid audience-pleaser even though its story often seems familiar and sentimental.