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Bad Lieutenant
User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11

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  1. ButteredPopcorn
    Oct 13, 2004
    8
    You gotta see this one to believe it. It's not like other movies. This is the real thing. Probably more interested in being realistic than entertaining, but you leave with the sense that you just saw something very authentic, un-filtered, un-apologetic, and un-assuming. Very memorable movie.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. JoshC
    Jan 16, 2007
    10
    A hardcore scuzzmeister elevates himself to a new place with this startling, powerfully restrained portrayal of sin and salvation in godless NY. Keitel's inarticulate maudit philosopher is the most uninhabited performance in this disco inferno that also offers relgious hallucinations. As sordid as the material is, the movie isn't oppressive.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. YoonC.
    Sep 14, 2003
    6
    A hoary and sleazy rendition of the classic Dostoyevskian scenario, it has Keitel wallowing in the pigsty of suffering and remorse. Interestingly, whatever compelling elements in the movie derive from Ferrara's unrelenting(and exploitative) relish for sleaze and filth; not just a commentary on social disease, the movie is plague-ridden itself. It lacks the transcendental quality of a Bresson film but at least in terms of depicting physical reality, it's probably as grim and accurate as any movie about urban and moral decay.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    It is not a "dirty movie," and in fact takes spirituality and morality more seriously than most films do. And in the bad lieutenant, Keitel has given us one of the great screen performances in recent years.
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  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hal Hinson
    70
    Ferrara is clearly drawing an equation between the criminals' actions and The Lieutenant's, and as trite (and potentially shameless) as this may sound, it actually works.
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  3. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    40
    Despite a glut of luridness, the story line feels essentially flat, as Keitel stumbles through New York in an immoral, unchanging haze. It is only the strength of Keitel's performance that gives his personality human dimension.
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