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Once in the Life
Metascore
52 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
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  1. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    Fishburne excels in his triple-threat roles as actor, director and adapter of his own play, and his cast glows under his direction.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    Showcases a trio of terrific performances.
  3. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: F. X. Feeney
    70
    May lack any transcendent point that would make it exceptional, but it is certainly a worthy start, and worth catching.
  4. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Kevin Maynard
    68
    Has a credibly gritty texture, thanks in large part to Fishburne's generosity with his fellow actors.
  5. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    63
    Strong, hard, dirty, funny, moving atmospheric and laced with scabrously musical street dialogue.
  6. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    63
    Basically it's an acting exercise - a one-set rendition of that old stage and movie standby, the ex-convict struggling to go straight who's tempted to attempt one last score.
  7. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    The movie remains an actor's exercise--too much dialogue, too much time in the room, too much happening offstage, or in the past, or in memory, or in imagination.
  8. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    50
    As urban gangster drama, Once in the Life is way below mundane, and Fishburne's direction exceeds the rookie jitters.
  9. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    50
    If Laurence Fishburne could only have harnessed his fierce performance to drive his directoral debut, Once in the Life might have made something memorable of the done-to-death tale of small-time crooks on the run after a heist gone wrong.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    50
    While the line-readings are often dead-on, Fishburne's movie suffers from the usual one-room claustrophobia and Mametian repetitions.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    50
    A film that ultimately feels stagebound and excessively talky, but which showcases an exceptional performance.
  12. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    40
    The good news is that Fishburne also stars, and has recruited a talented group of actors to flesh out the cast; the bad news is that no one seems to have been on hand to help out with the rest of film.
  13. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Henry Cabot Beck
    40
    Doesn't have a lot to offer that hasn't been done better -- and worse -- in hundreds of ghetto-sink shoot-em-ups.
  14. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    40
    (Fishburne's) performance here, witty and profane, vulnerable and strutting, nearly holds the movie together.
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