Fast and the Furious, The

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Shrewdly conceived, confidently executed and outrageously entertaining.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

The result is an intensely involving entertainment that can be enjoyed by viewers who scarcely know how their own cars work.

Washington Post Curt Fields

Along with the cast's charm, they provide enough fuel for a fun one (movie).

Village Voice Amy Taubin

(You) might be charmed by the film's blend of kineticism, car-culture rituals, and hilariously flat-footed dialogue.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Loud, trashy, implausible and exciting, The Fast and the Furious may not have much of a brain, but it's definitely got a pulse.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

The best cheap thrill to come out of Hollywood in ages -- it's a shot of tonic for the current blockbuster bloat.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Turbo-charged wallbanger with the IQ of a tire iron. But it jumps off the screen with the mindless panache of a good bad movie.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Not a great movie, but it delivers what it promises to deliver, and knows that a chase scene is supposed to be about something more than special effects.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Something special about it. It's a formula movie, to be sure, but it's Formula One.

New Times (L.A.) M.V. Moorhead

The movie may be intellectually sophomoric, dramatically adolescent and morally vacuous, but it's good fun while it lasts.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

With its machine-gun editing, extremely loud (mostly rap) soundtrack, occasional music-video interlude and overall in-your-face sensibility, it's a movie that's determined to chase anyone past age 30 or so right out of theater.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Pure, unadulterated teen exploitation filmmaking at its best -- a heady, rocketing blast of fast cars, loud hip-hop, and a script so cheesy it might as well have “Made in Wisconsin” stamped on it.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A massive compendium of youth-movie/pedal-to-the-metal cliches. But man, is it fast!

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

There's some undeniable appeal to watching a well-oiled, built-for-speed machine operating with its pedal to the metal -- even if it's destined to wind up in flames before the finish line.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

High-grade B flick about illegal street racing among gangs in Los Angeles applies the brakes only for the bare minimum of plot injection.

Slate David Edelstein

Fearless as these racers are, it's hard to muster enthusiasm for a movie that plays chicken and then swerves about a mile before the collision.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Strictly where the boys are: posing, posturing, and talking engine envy.

Chicago Reader Reece Pendleton

While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Better than any automobile flick put out by Hollywood in a while and, thanks to some genuinely exciting moments, it is easily the most entertaining so far of this summer's big, brainless action movies.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title. It could have used a bit of a fuel injection itself.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

This is not a movie about actors. It's a movie about racing, chasing, chicks and adrenaline -- just what many theatergoers are dying for in a summer dominated by a sweet ogre and a dumbed-down historical tragedy.

TV Guide Tanya L. Edwards

This testosterone-driven, car-crime picture evokes the testosterone-driven, surf-crime picture "Point Break."

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Neither fast nor furious, this film belongs in the section of the supermarket where blah-white labels and big block lettering denote brandless cigarettes, vodka, crushed pineapple and, in this case, action picture.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

If it worked, The Fast and the Furious would put viewers in the same position as the policeman protagonist, attracted to speed but appalled by crime. Instead it sentences you to an hour and a half in a high-decibel limbo.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Rob Cohen, who last directed "The Skulls" --ouch! -- can consider this one another career-killing skid mark.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Drowns in its own noxious fumes. Who knew being bad could be so dull?

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Unless you live and breathe exhaust fumes, there isn't much to sustain a viewer through a lame story and dialogue so pathetic.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

The Fast and the Furious is "Rebel Without a Cause" without a cause. The young and the restless with gas fumes. The quick and the dead with skid marks.