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Spy Hard
Metascore
25 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 13
  3. Negative: 8 out of 13
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  1. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Barbara Shulgasser
    50
    This movie may not be brilliant, but every now and then it's really funny.
  2. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    Most of the laughs come near the beginning, before Rick Friedberg's klutzy directing becomes annoyingly monotonous.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    50
    Instead of building sustained comic set pieces, it takes a machine-gun approach to humor. Without looking at where it's aiming, it opens fire and sprays comic bullets in all directions, trusting that a few will hit the bull's-eye. A few do, but many more don't.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    42
    I'm happy to report, though, that even a dud like Spy Hard can't completely douse the stumbling Zen charm of Leslie Nielsen, whose genius is that he never quite sheds the illusion that he isn't in on the joke.
  5. Empire
    Reviewed by: Darren Bignell
    40
    Sporadically funny, but never more than a sting of crude gags.
  6. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff (not credited)
    38
    Nielsen's schtick is getting pretty threadbare by now -- his movies used to wring laughs from assaults on his silver-haired dignity, but after years of screen buffoonery, he has no dignity left to assault.
  7. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Andy Seiler
    38
    Friedberg, who previously made Nielsen's golfing video and rental car commercials, knows only the low road -- and gets lost anyway. [24 May 1996, Pg.04.D]
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  8. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    38
    Director Rick Friedberg (who made the "bad golf" videos with Leslie Nielsen) has crafted a dreadfully unfunny comedy that takes Naked Gun-like sketches and rehashes them without a whit of style or energy.
  9. Variety
    Reviewed by: Greg Evans
    30
    The picture that will test the durability of Leslie Nielsen's lowbrow franchise -- and proves the talent of the regrettably absent Zucker brothers-Jim Abrahams team --Spy Hard sticks so closely to the "Naked Gun" formula that one half-expects an O.J. Simpson cameo.
  10. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: David Kronke
    20
    It could have used several more passes on the screenplay to strengthen the gags and flesh out the characters.
  11. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Joey O'Bryan
    11
    Filled to the bursting point with witless, sub-Mad magazine movie parodies, pointless cameos by a seemingly endless parade of has-beens, and once-hysterical, now stale jokes lifted straight from "Airplane!" and the original "Naked Gun", Spy Hard is a truly desperate comedy.
  12. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    10
    Nielsen earns a few giggles with his big entrance and later on his even bigger belly, but he can't overcome the lousy material.
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    0
    The best bits come in the first few minutes -- or maybe the jokes just seem fresher then.
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User Reviews

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User Score
5.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. KarthXLR
    3
    The motto for the movie should've been "and none of the laughs". I guarantee that watching any old cheesy bond film will have more unintentional laughs then this movie did through its entirety.… Full Review »
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