This blunt-edged, in-your-face comedy, however, is simply too obtuse to provide enjoyment for post-adolescent viewers. (Youngsters, I suspect, will eat it up.) Its mile-a-minute gag attempts yield groans far more frequently than laughs, and its humor is so unsubtly deadpan as to undercut the wit that lurks behind its premise. [9 Feb 1993, p.D7]

What we end up with is a meandering mishmash of tasteless jokes and a tendency for extended non sequitur riffs.

The Best of Me is full-on Nicholas Sparks, through and through, checking all the boxes in the by-now well-established formula. It's just not the best of Nicholas Sparks.

Little more than a glorified situation comedy. The problem is, it's all situation and no comedy.

Najafi's R-rated London Has Fallen doesn't target the genteel viewer. Rather, it aims squarely for moviegoers who like their action bloody, their fights brutal, their body count sky-high.

Daytime serial star Shane McDermott and "cha-ching" man Seth Green vie to create the most annoying teen screen personality this side of Pauly Shore in "Airborne," a high-velocity skating movie that remains hopelessly earthbound. [22 Sept 1993, p.E10]

It feels like a desperate attempt at edginess -- and desperation is never becoming, whether in real-life romance or in a romantic comedy.

Pixels is a slice of pure, frivolous entertainment that doesn't try to overreach.

Although they've left the city behind, the girls haven't forgotten the sex. They're still as frank as ever, as outrageous as ever, as liberated as ever.

Grant and Parker's talents are wasted on a boring, made-for-TV story punctuated by a contrived, throwaway third act.

This is even worse than a repetitive rehash. These "Fockers" are just lazy, limp -- and lame.

The impressive young cast -- is mostly wasted. Teller and company, despite their proven talents, are given little of depth to do and forced to spout dialog that ranges from clunky to ridiculous.

The cutesy comedy "Look Who's Talking" has now spawned a second sequel, and it's even smarmier than the last two outings in this increasingly unbearable series. [9 Nov 1993, p.C10]

This is an alternate-history rock 'n' roll saga. It is not Elvis, but Elvis-ish.

It so shamelessly borrows from so many other movies, and then does absolutely nothing to add to them -- nothing to raise the bar, nothing to make it more interesting, and really nothing to make it the least bit appealing.

Even when it's at its best, Walk of Shame is rarely more than merely amusing. On the other hand, when it's at its worst, it's nothing short of insulting, thanks to its willingness to engage in the kind of gross stereotyping that treads uncomfortably close to racist territory.

But Jack and Jill? Oh, Al.

Even if The Bounty Hunter is more plot-driven than your standard romantic comedy, it's never quite as funny as it should be.

I guess I can't call the movie sexist as it was largely produced, directed and written by women. So I'll settle for calling it dull, corny and amateurish instead.

Red Riding Hood needs a better agent.

Lazy and stupid and unwilling to put forth the effort needed to distinguish itself even from a mediocre Internet video, it all amounts to a forgettable, slapdash bit of comedic nothingness.

There are lulls to be had here, but there is a smattering of laughs, too -- and some pretty good ones, at that. If, that is, you'll give yourself permission to laugh at Wayans and company's lowest-common-denominator antics.

Sometimes it's stupid-funny, but mostly it's just plain stupid. And sloppy.

Utterly atrocious. It returns Andrew McCarthy, the world's most pretentious actor under 30, to the farcical lead for which he's ill-equipped, trashes a slew of West Indian religious traditions, and manages to find only one really catchy tune - Arrow's soca-syncopated "Dancin' Mood" - in a soundtrack that ought to have sizzled. [15 July 1993, p.E9]

Still, as Death of a Superhero plays out, it's hard not to shake the feeling that this is ground we've trodden before.

Rarely, however, are such stories as emotionally laden as that told in Lucy the Human Chimp, a documentary ostensibly about a science experiment but which quickly evolves into something both heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once.