Jackie Brown 1997

Critics score:
87 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Susan Stark, Detroit News: [A] surprisingly sluggish Tarantino piece. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: For all its enthusiasm, this film isn't sharp enough to afford all the time it wastes on small talk, long drives, trips to the mall and favorite songs played on car radios. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Quentin Tarantino puts together a fairly intricate and relatively uninvolving money-smuggling plot, but his cast is so good that you probably won't feel cheated. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The film is more Jarmusch than Peckinpah -- its soul is in the minutiae. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A leisurely and easygoing diversion that goes down easy enough but is far from compelling. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's like a scuzz-bucket film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick at his most static-mesmeric. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Beyond the grasp of most directors, this is tour de force stuff -- definitely meriting the price of admission and almost worth the three-year wait. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: The tale is filled with funny, gritty Tarantino lowlife gab and a respectable body count, but what is most striking is the film's gallantry and sweetness. Read more

David Denby, New York Magazine/Vulture: Working from an Elmore Leonard novel, Tarantino has created a gangster fiction that is never larger than life and sometimes smaller. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An entertaining diversion, but not a masterpiece. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is the movie that proves Tarantino is the real thing, and not just a two-film wonder boy. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: [Tarantino] wanted to give Grier a role worthy of her, and he has. If only he'd given her a movie worthy of her as well. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Scene by scene, Jackie Brown is amusing, but after two hours, it seems sluggish, and at that point still has a half-hour to go. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Tarantino's finest, most mature movie to date. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Offers an abundance of pleasures, especially in the realm of characterization and atmosphere. Read more