The Pelican Brief
User Score
5.6 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 2 out of 8

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  1. JasonE.
    Apr 25, 2006
    2
    A real snoozer, interrupted by a few laughs at the ludicrous plot and dialogue. It goes on forever, and then, when it absolutely has to be OVER, the thing comes back to life with a saccharine epilogue. Big stars, and a (formerly) expert director, in the service of dreck.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
50 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 15
  3. Negative: 1 out of 15
  1. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    50
    Unfortunately, The Pelican Brief comes across as a prolonged bout with deja vu: you know you've seen this before, and more than once at that.
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  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    By casting attractive stars in the leads, by finding the right visual look, by underlining the action with brooding, ominously sad music, a good director can create the illusion of meaning even when nothing's there.
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  3. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    50
    The final result is an unnecessarily-long thriller that contains far more talking than action. Pakula's direction is lackluster, showing little of the style that permeated his two most impressive pictures, "All the President's Men" and "Presumed Innocent".
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