Leonard Maltin's Rating :
Should be :
IMDB Rating : 7.7
Rotten Tomatoes Rating : 83%
Rotten Tomatoes Consensus : " Tongue-in-cheek satire blends well with entertaining action and spot-on performances in this dark, eclectic neo-noir homage."
Leonard says in his review : "Uneven neo-noir (screwball comedy starts out as mindless entertainment but quickly grows confusing and tiresome. Lethal Weapon scribe Black seems awfully impressed with himself for repeatedly having the protagonist break away from the story to mock the film's use of narrative and genre cliches."
If you look at the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes numbers it seems like most people don't agree that the movie quickly grows tiresome. I think we can also assume that the director's style worked for most people. The movie worked well as an homage to film noir and as a comedy. The plot, as a parody of a variety of detective movies, is meant to be watched and enjoyed, instead of followed.
Mr. Maltin doesn't seem to like any one fooling around with his favorite genres. He wasn't really happy with The Long Goodbye, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Miller's Crossing, Memento or Unforgiven.
I love all the old movies too, but I certainly don't mind someone trying to poke holes in the genres, as long as they do it well. And this movie does it very well.
If you look at the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes numbers it seems like most people don't agree that the movie quickly grows tiresome. I think we can also assume that the director's style worked for most people. The movie worked well as an homage to film noir and as a comedy. The plot, as a parody of a variety of detective movies, is meant to be watched and enjoyed, instead of followed.
Mr. Maltin doesn't seem to like any one fooling around with his favorite genres. He wasn't really happy with The Long Goodbye, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Miller's Crossing, Memento or Unforgiven.
I love all the old movies too, but I certainly don't mind someone trying to poke holes in the genres, as long as they do it well. And this movie does it very well.
