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Lake Placid
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Metascore
33 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 24 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 10 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt
  • Summary: Its placid waters complement the pristine Maine wilderness it borders. This tranquil setting is probably the last place you'd expect a gruesome fatality. But then it's also the last place you?d expect to find a 30-foot, narrow-snouted, multi-toothed, reptilian of the species Crocodylus. An eating machine more commonly known as a crocodile. (20th Century Fox)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 24
  3. Negative: 12 out of 24
  1. Empire
    Reviewed by: Andrew Collins
    80
    A straightforward camping-holiday nightmare, or a sly, ironic take on the same. It works deliciously as both.
  2. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Anthony Lane
    60
    Comes in well under the ninety-minute mark, leaving no room for bombast or overkill.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    30
    To be sure, Kelley's Emmy-winning brand of off-kilter humor and cockeyed affection for rural folk is on display, but his attempt here to blend the citified angst of "Ally McBeal" (co-star Bridget Fonda was Kelley's first choice as that series' lead) with the countrified absurdisms of "Picket Fences," plus bits out of the Peter Benchley playbook, doesn't hold water.

See all 24 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. MiguelB.
    8
    More fun than horror, with lots of hilarious banter between main characters. Should not be taken seriously, of course, but definitely more enjoyable than most movies in this genre.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. WesleyE.
    7
    It's by no means a good movie... but the actors (if you can call them that) do poke some slight fun ath the subject, and the Big Croc itself kicks ass.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Halfwelshman
    5
    Lake Placid pays homage to (or rips off, depending on your point of view) numerous monster movies, but mostly it's trying to be Jaws with a crocodile, as demonstrated by everything from the film's story to its cinematography to its music. Rip-off or not, it's pretty consistently entertaining throughout, with plenty of obligatory jumpy moments and dismemberment, decent creature effects, a good dose of black comedy, some pleasingly silly set pieces and a team of bickering idiots to follow as protagonists. Less satisfying is the film's script, which is pretty crude, often bordering on dumb (particularly disappointing as it comes from the usually brilliant David E. Kelly), and all characters remain woefully two-dimensional throughout the film. The cast's performances are of mixed quality - Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda are both incredibly wooden, and their characters' relationship, which is meant to be the romantic core of the film, isn't believable in the slightest, but Brendan Gleeson is good, and Betty White looks as though she is having an immense amount of fun swearing like a sailor. Lake Placid is probably the best of the 90s creature-features (though that's not saying much when your bedfellows are Arachnophobia and Anaconda), but at the end of the day you have to acknowledge that the film is utter trash. It's largely quite enjoyable trash, but it's still trash all the same.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

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