In what universe would you expect to see Andy Samberg, Ian McShane and Sissy Spacek in the same movie? You have to give the makers of Hot Rod credit for creative and unlikely casting. But the credit pretty much ends there.

The combination of tight close-ups and jarring camera work might require a dose of Dramamine. Better yet, give this movie a wide berth and check out a superb film set in a submarine, the 1981 classic "Das Boot."

Envy is in the unenviable position of saddling two of Hollywood's most talented comic actors with a script that doesn't do them justice.

You have to give director Jonathan Liebesman some points for sparing no shell casings or standing buildings to hustle us through the film's languorous two hours.

While the rapping stars of House Party I and II bring a few fresh (as in cool) ideas to the premise, little about this cartoony comedy seems all that fresh (as in not stale). [05 Jun 1992, p.4D]

Tries and winds up with a pleasant, if forgettable, romp of a film.

Parents may be pleased, children will cheer. But it's too bad the movie turtles have had to sacrifice their snap, victims of a box-office shell game. [22 Mar 1991, p.4D]

This boomer-coddling comic fantasy, in which a callous adult on the brink of 40 has a chance encounter with his pudgy, lisping 8-year-old self, is an iffier what-if.

As a raunchy romantic comedy or an homage to the 1980s, Take Me Home Tonight is hardly worth a one-night stand.

When so many PG-13 movies are encroaching on R-rated turf, it's heartening to see a film that responsibly approaches its audience.

Compelling almost in spite of itself, thanks to the impressionistic imagery of cinematographer Robert Richardson.

Though it has some mildly amusing moments (mostly in the visuals accompanying the novel's narration), Alex & Emma is disappointing, neither very romantic nor very comic.

It's asking a lot of audiences to spend nearly two hours with characters as screen-unfriendly as the ones played by Biggs and Ricci, though both actors (and especially Ricci) do what they're asked to do.

Eastwood, who spends much of Uprising squinting like his dad, Clint, plays buttoned-up straight man to Boyega, a dynamic that's initially grating yet finds its legs in the monster-punching stuff later.

A World War II thriller without enough thrills.

It may appeal to the most rabid fans of tearjerk romances like "The Notebook," but it's a hard-to-swallow, maudlin tale.

Too bad first-time director Christopher Erskin, who cut his teeth on music videos and commercials, took so many predictable turns on this Vacation.

The movie has more charm when it's earthbound. Cusack and Green's mother-son repartee has sharp comic timing. Once the story veers off to space, it goes downhill.

Yet because this adaptation of Franz Lidz's childhood memoir is odd enough and even stylish enough to attract a small following, you might want to weigh my ingrained dyspepsia before electing not to see it. [15 Sep 1995]

This cliche primer is a bit more than bearable - even when it's literally and figuratively off the track. It's no Cocktail, but it's no Dom Perignon, either. [27 Jun 1990, p.1D]

Though the movie is more mediocre than abysmal, Ryan's recently banged-up filmography (remember In the Cut) could use what every fighter needs at ringside: a good cut man to stop the bleeding.

A bland road-trip film that falls flat while heaping on the raunchiness.

You can feel the movie going wrong in the first scene.

Regard it also as a well-intentioned clunker. [10 July 1991, p.4D]

The film feels as if it's trying to force a sense of wonder and awe upon its youthful audience, rather than simply letting an intriguing story unfold naturally.

It's mostly smoke and mirrors. After Freeman's snooze became a YouTube fixture, the actor jokingly dismissed the nap, saying he was using "Google eyelids" to check his Facebook account. You may find yourself attempting the same feat, because Now has little up its sleeve.

The Change-Up should have fired on all cylinders. What went wrong here?

The Family is a fish-out-of-water/buddy comedy/Mob flick. But most of all, it's a missed opportunity.