Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. Midnight Run has thrills, excellent performances, touching moments, slick plotting, lively dialogue, plenty of laughs, beautiful locations and finely detailed direction. It's an across-the-board success, the best new movie I've seen in years. [20 July 1988]
  2. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    100
    One of the most entertaining, best executed, original road pictures ever.
  3. Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    90
    A performance like De Niro's, in a well-made entertainment like Midnight Run, is cheap at any price. And capable of restoring the audience's faith in the form. [25 July 1988]
  4. 88
    Whoever cast De Niro and Grodin must have had a sixth sense for the chemistry they would have; they work together so smoothly, and with such an evident sense of fun, that even their silences are intriguing.
  5. 88
    Graciously filmed by Martin Brest and imaginatively performed by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, the tired concept yields a steady stream of little discoveries and surprising insights that add up to some uncommonly rich comedy. [20 July 1988]
  6. Reviewed by: Donna Britt
    88
    The film is a bit long because Brest wants to give you time to believe Walsh and Mardukas' inevitable friendship. We do. And Run adds poignancy without detracting from the action. [20 July 1988]
  7. The virtue of Midnight Run is not that it does anything new; the virtue is that it does everything old so well.
  8. 80
    The funniest buddy movie ever and a generally daffy one at that. It features some of the most genuinely stupid and amusing tough guys in the history of cinema, and a tantalizing slow burn by Deniro.
  9. There isn't a single performance in Midnight Run that doesn't have a pulse, that doesn't show the actors at their best or near-best, especially De Niro. [20 July 1988]
  10. Robert De Niro is one extended pleasure in Midnight Run -- a real actor putting his considerable talent to work in a well-scripted comedy. And he's more than complemented by Charles Grodin, a brilliant comic performer who has been wasted up to now in small roles or lousy movies. [22 July 1988]
  11. Miraculously, De Niro and Grodin turn this sow's ear into a plausible vehicle for a buddy movie, and thanks to both of them, this movie springs to life.
  12. Grodin is brilliant, though, practically stealing the movie without an extra word or unnecessary gesture. He's an uncommonly talented actor, and it's good to see him in a movie that gives him a chance to show his stuff. [22 July 1988]
  13. Reviewed by: Staff (Non Credited)
    70
    Director Martin Brest has allowed the actors to improvise, and their resulting interaction is more realistic, funny, and surprising than that of any buddy film released in the last several years.
  14. Mr. De Niro and Mr. Grodin are lunatic delights, which is somewhat more than can be said for the movie, whose mechanics keep getting in the way of the performances. [20 July 1988, p.C15]
  15. Reviewed by: Hal Hinson
    60
    Too routinely formulaic to be anything more than modestly diverting. But as modest diversions go it cruises along at a reasonably brisk pace and, in the smaller details -- the off-in-the-margins doodling -- it has its rewards. [20 July 1988]
  16. Midnight Run is two films. One is a succession of bright, razor-edge, nutty dialogues between two men. The other is the plot that keeps them together, which is stale and full of boring violent-comic action. [29 Aug 1988]
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. NeilF
    10
    I will never tire of this. Grodin is sublime and De Niro proves he CAN do comedy.
  2. Patrick
    10
    This is as well-written a movie (the fire-side chat between DeNiro and Grodin; the scene where DeNiro visits his ex-wife, Wendy Phillips; when Kotto interrogates Ashton; the scene at the airport between DeNiro and Dennis Farina) as I have ever seen. Add to that how well-cast (the aforementioned DeNiro, Grodin, Kotto, Farina, Pantoliano) it was, and i feel badly for anyone who doesn't give it an 8 out of 10. Probably those perves who liked the depth of "Sideways". Full Review »
  3. Midnight Run has a real sense of journey both physical and in terms of character development which is not prevalent in most films. The balance of comedy, sentimentality and of course action is well calculated, the script is great and all the actors are clearly enjoying themselves. A flawless film and way ahead of it's time. Danny Elfman's score is uplifting and compliments the visuals in every scene. Full Review »