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Saint John of Las Vegas
Metascore
32 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 21
  3. Negative: 9 out of 21
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  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    63
    I like its devotion to the drab outskirts of Sin City, and Buscemi's performance is right up his alley without being entirely predictable.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    63
    Buscemi is appealing as always, but the movie, is only sporadically funny.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    50
    This movie is all elbows. Nothing fits. It doesn't add up. It has some terrific free-standing scenes, but they need more to lean on.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Janice Page
    50
    The best thing about Saint John of Las Vegas is that it makes you really appreciate guys like David Lynch and Joel and Ethan Coen.
  5. Time
    Reviewed by: Mary Pols
    50
    One of those shaggy-dog stories that you keep hoping will get sharper, smarter, cooler, more worthy of its star. Buscemi may not be exactly celestial, but he still deserves better.
  6. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    Proof positive that comedy is hard, this debut feature by Hue Rhodes offers a wealth of skilled players and admirably offbeat gags yet seldom manages to generate any laughs.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    50
    Predictably, the best moments belong to Buscemi, whose performance is a model of understatement in a field of grotesques.
  8. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    42
    fFat, dull drag.
  9. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Andrew Grant
    40
    Though the credits include an impressive roster of names, this low-stakes poker hand feels like an undiscovered relic from the early '90s, and that's not a good thing.
  10. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Pete Hammond
    40
    An amusing turn from Steve Buscemi in the title role and some sporadically funny, off-beat dialogue provided by debuting writer/director Hue Rhodes make for a passable, if forgettable, little time passer.
  11. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    40
    The film turns into one of those indie parades of eccentrics that are hit-and-miss but mostly miss.
  12. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Gary Goldstein
    40
    The presence of the ever-reliable Steve Buscemi adds a welcome boost to Saint John of Las Vegas, an otherwise unremarkable debut feature from writer-director Hue Rhodes.
  13. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    38
    First-time director and screenwriter Hue Rhodes shows no discernible talent for dialogue, humor and, especially, pacing.
  14. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    30
    The movie is a letdown, stringing together pointless episodes to little effect. It's the kind of thinly conceived, quirk-for-quirk's-sake indie that gives indies a bad name.
  15. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Vadim Rizov
    30
    Mostly, Saint John traps good comic performers--including Malco and Peter Dinklage as John's boss--in airless editing and an unproductive, unresolved, sludgy tone.
  16. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    25
    Saint John of Las Vegas was a bad script that somehow got made into a bad movie with good people in it.
  17. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    25
    A funereally unfunny comedy.
  18. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    20
    You watch and wait for this underachieving film to ignite, then grow more and more exasperated as you witness its many misfires.
  19. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    20
    This disjointed, desperately whimsical film is simply not funny: not for a minute.
  20. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    20
    The writing is semicoherent at best, and the buddies of this meandering road trip are not only mismatched but dislikable.
  21. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Chris Nashawaty
    16
    With stars like Steve Buscemi and Sarah Silverman and big-fish producers such as Spike Lee and Stanley Tucci on board, you'd think this indie would offer some glimmer of wit or originality. Think again.
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