The Best of Times will make points with football fans, and it might even score with believers in the human comedy. But, oh, what a disappointing first half. [1 Feb 1986, p.C4]

The uneven Goldmember seems to take a big step toward the extremely juvenile, with more scatological and fewer sex jokes

Unfortunately, Insurgent can’t quite live up to its intriguing set up. Even if you’re curious about it, the movie is often plodding and frequently nonsensical, with action that never feels novel or exciting.

You don’t buy into their romance the way you buy into, say, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in the upcoming “La La Land.” All you see are two big movie stars playing make-believe.

If you're not a rabid fan of Texas hold 'em -- the poker phenomenon that swept the country a couple of years ago but is hardly cutting edge now -- you might want to step quickly away from Lucky You.

Reacher is so good at everything he does, and Cruise plays him in such a robotic manner, that the movie becomes a bit of a bore: The hero is practically omnipotent.

The title's only the beginning of the many puns, and the story takes enough twists and turns through the Irish countryside to be engaging. But in the end, too much talk, too much forced quirkiness, and too many scenes we've seen before bring it down. [1 July 1998, p.2d]

The problem with I Love You, Beth Cooper is that aside from Denis' speech at the start, everything else seems familiar.

Sounds like Dirty Harry, looks like Dirty Harry, plays like Dirty Harry. The big difference is that Norris is not so mean as Eastwood, nor so interesting. Eastwood's Harry is flawed, even philosophical in his grumpy way; Norris' Sarge is just a nice guy who can kill you a hundred different ways. [06 May 1985, p.B6]

To Rome with Love is so inviting, and most of its gaggle of characters so diverse and likable, it's doubly disappointing that Allen, who wrote and directed the movie, can't think of what to do with them.

It''s loud and flashy and fun to look at, but you''ll grow tired of it very quickly.

Highbrow entertainment this isn't.

Just amusing enough to provoke a few chuckles and just short enough to keep you from glancing at your watch.

Saving Mr. Banks is two movies crammed into one cumbersome, overlong drama.

However clumsily done, the handoff has now been accomplished, and it will be interesting to see how the new crew carries the torch in subsequent movies that aren't asked to carry such weight. [18 Nov. 1994, p.5]

It might have all seemed hip and edgy 10 years ago, but today, it just feels tired.

Great messages, of course. But Glee: 3D is not good enough, it's not smart enough, and doggone it, well, you get the gist.

I'm not suggesting Costner and Kutcher should run out and remake "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" just yet, but in The Guardian, the two actors turn out to complement each other well enough to make a lot of this supremely derivative and formulaic picture go down better than it should.

"Overworked" is the word for much of the movie. The Mean Season has the feel of a project much tinkered with, so that it seems both laborious and scattered. For a melodrama it moves too slowly, and for a thriller it is too obvious; you can see the seams, see the film's gears move when its works should be invisible. [15 Feb 1985, p.D1]

The movie's exploration of prejudice within the military is certainly on target, but it's presented with all the finesse of a classroom civics lesson.

Put in such an uncomfortable position, the audience needs something to fall back on, like chemistry between its stars. Here that's half-hearted at best.

here are strange sensibilities at work here, yes. Just not working hard enough. [23 July 1993, p.G7]

Sunlight Jr. is what is often described as a slice-of-life drama, but this one is more of a tiny sliver, and it doesn’t leave you with much to chew on.

The idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger as a small town sheriff is ludicrous, but then that's the whole point of his new movie: It's dumb fun, emphasis on the dumb.

In Country Strong, the Oscar-winning Paltrow gets upstaged and outacted by the kid from "Tron" and the snotty brat from "Gossip Girl." Who'd have thought?

Despite funny moments, its attempt at baseball-as-metaphor-for-life ultimately whiffs. [29 Jun 1994, p.E4]

Wild Hogs is a paint-by-numbers comedy, borrowing most of its broad strokes from sitcoms, and not clever ones like "The Office" and 3"0 Rock," either.

The story's historical setting is fascinating, but the movie is populated by thin, uninvolving characters.