On a minute-to-minute level, it's an engaging mystery, the kind that rewards our participation with eye candy and adrenaline shots. But when we pull back for an overview, we see that it's flat and that pieces are missing.

Depp shows again that he truly understands Thompson by delivering a nuanced performance that is remarkably different, but subliminally similar, from the wonderfully outrageous turn he provided in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

So friction-free that it slips from memory before the credits fade.

The script could use a few more laughs, but all in all Doc Hollywood is a pleasant if unexceptional summer movie. [02 Aug 1991, p.3F]

His (Eastwood) first boring film.

The man is bound to special effects as if they were Siamese twins, and while fancy stuff helped a lot in Who Killed Roger Rabbit? and all the Back to the Future movies, it doesn't do much for Death Becomes Her. But Zemeckis insists on emphasizing them over script or cleverness or even acting, and he hammers a viewer into surrender, rather than excitement. [04 Aug 1992, p.4D]

SHAG has a good cast with a lot of interesting family connections, but unfortunately it doesn't have much of a script, and Zelda Barron's direction lacks zip. The result is a ''teen-age girls coming of age'' flick that is considerably less successful than ''Mystic Pizza,'' ''Dirty Dancing'' or ''My American Cousin,'' the three good little films that pretty much established this post-feminist genre. [25 July 1989, p.3D]

The multiplexes are full of films that promise little more than a forgettable good time. The Man Who Knew Infinity is just as entertaining, but far more substantial.

Newcomer Anna Chlumsky shines in My Girl, a movie sure to hit the same sort of high note among pre-teen girls that Home Alone hit among pre-teen boys. [27 Nov 1991, p.3F]

Its mean-spiritedness, stupidity and squandering of talent is uniquely Hollywood.

It's possible to make a successful comedy about stalking, or virtually any other subject. But you probably need a lighter touch than young director Ben Stiller (Reality Bites) exhibits in this occasionally funny, sometimes grim movie. [14 June 1996, p.3E]

The acting is quite good, and Marshall keeps suspense as high as possible, considering we all know the eventual conclusion. [15 Jan 1993, p.3E]

IF you can accept the notion of a sympathetic character who is also a hit man - in other words, if you went along with the game in "Pulp Fiction" and "Bulletproof Heart" - you should enjoy 2 Days in the Valley, a fast-moving, sometimes violent, sometimes sexy, sometimes surprisingly funny story of crime and romance in the San Fernando Valley. [27 Sept 1996, p.3E]

Although their latest film is not without a certain charm, it quickly wears out its welcome.

Black Rain is a brilliant visual tour de force wrapped around a fair suspense plot. The result is a movie that is so exciting to look at that you tend to forget that the story is rather hackneyed, except for the setting. [26 Sep 1989, p.3D]

Here most of the punishment is inflicted on the audience, which gets nailed to a cross of boredom.

The movie is best enjoyed as a minor-key operatic, not a coherent story. While Law bellows blasphemous poetry, his director orchestrates a noirish light show with a cockeyed rhythm.

Given the mood of so many of today's movies, it might be a pleasure to see an old-fashioned love story. But I think movie-goers have changed, and the peculiar coincidences, the large plot holes and the absurdity of so much of the story line combine to make the story more silly than sentimental, more ridiculous than riveting, more foolish than fulfilling, more maudlin than anything else. [21 Oct 1994, p.3G]

One of the best adult suspense films of the year. [28 Sept 1990, p.3F]

It’s amusing fluff, but from an Oscar-winning dramatist, this return to comedy is a bit of a letdown.

While Walt and El Grupo is less than a penetrating analysis, it's more than a Mickey Mouse advertisement.

'Back to the Future Part III is somewhat overlong and a little slow in getting started, but on the whole it provides an entertaining and emotionally satisfying conclusion to a memorable series. [25 May 1990, p.3F]

Like an acquaintance couple's baby pictures, Friends With Kids induces coos but isn't as cute as they think.

A soulless, overblown bore.

It's eerie rather than wondrous.

Taiwanese director Ang Lee sees the '60s through a rose-colored telephoto lens, but his sympathetic spirit extends the generous message of the hippie era like a passed joint.

It's pure speculation on the filmmakers' part that Gaelic pagans were adorned with bones, blue mud and Mohawks, but the fire-dancing spectacle is a welcome respite from the beefcake of the journey scenes.

Superior filmmaking. Yes, it runs almost three hours - but you've probably seen 90-minute films that felt a lot longer.