A Stranger Among Us 1992

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: A Stranger Among Us is eerily devoid of precisely the kind of urban detail and atmosphere that has always given Lumet`s work its authority, even when his storytelling falters. Read more

Peter Rainer, Los Angeles Times: A Stranger Among Us isn't emotionally on a much higher level than a Harlequin romance, but Lumet keeps the actors in front of us, and we enjoy watching them. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Director Sidney Lumet is obviously fascinated by the Hasidic community, and he displays this fascination by presenting the Jewish characters and settings with affection and respect. Read more

Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer: [Lumet] may be the quintessential New York director, but A Stranger Among Us argues that he should stay out of Brooklyn. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Although it's enjoyable as a bittersweet, fish-out-of-water love story, Sidney Lumet's A Stranger Among Us is less effective when it transforms itself into an exotic whodunit. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: The extremely farfetched solution to the murder mystery is not helped by a shrill, over-the-top performance from the perpetrator. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: There's apparently something about Hasidic Jews that makes normally talented and reasonable filmmakers turn otherwise straightforward thrillers into harebrained hootfests. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It would be hard to think of a worse idea than casting Melanie Griffith, with her soft-as-down little-girl voice, as a jaded New York homicide cop. Read more

Michael Sragow, New Yorker: Griffith's artless embodiment of the script's deranged idea of tough-gal gumption isn't as amusing as it should be. She's a B-picture heroine stuck in an absurdly self-conscious prestige project. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: If there has ever been a crime, in all the history of crime movies, that has a lamer solution than this one, I cannot remember it. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Lumet's no-bull New York sensibility clashes repeatedly with Avrech's romance-novel mawkishness. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: All too obviously influenced by Witness, the film fails on all counts. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Plot is overloaded with hard-to-take factors. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Oy vey. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: A preposterous cop movie that meets a romanticized portrait of the Hasidic community. Read more