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The Two Jakes
Metascore
56 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 17
  3. Negative: 1 out of 17
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    It's an exquisite short story about a mood, and a time, and a couple of guys who are blind-sided by love.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Gene Siskel
    88
    Jack Nicholson's impressive, convoluted and moody sequel to Chinatown. [10 Aug 1990]
    All this critic's reviews
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Mat Snow
    80
    The Two Jakes is well-acted and looks fabulous, cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond paints it eerily bright and shiny.
  4. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    80
    This is a worthy successor to Chinatown - full of ecological and geological insights into Los Angeles history that recall Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald and give a view of southern California that could have been conceived only by a native.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Sheila Benson
    70
    A lovingly assembled cast in a brilliantly detailed production, with special notice to Vilmos Zsigmond's haunting cinematography, which seems somehow to have captured the light as it was, pre-smog. [10 Aug 1990]
    All this critic's reviews
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    67
    The Two Jakes is competent and watchable.
  7. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    The Two Jakes turns out to be a surprisingly rich movie - if you're willing to spend 138 minutes on what is essentially a psychological study. [10 Aug 1990]
    All this critic's reviews
  8. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    50
    Towne doesn't weave all the elements as deftly as before, and his political observations seem secondhand.
  9. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Judy Stone
    50
    The Two Jakes is an interesting movie and audiences are predisposed to warm up to Nicholson the actor, but they may not be so charitable to Nicholson the director. [10 Aug 1990]
    All this publication's reviews
  10. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    50
    What it lacks are the dramatic underpinnings and emotional core that made the original film an engrossing mystery as well as a cinema classic.
  11. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jay Scott
    50
    The Two Jakes itself is less tragic than petulant, mired in a self-pitying remembrance of things past. [10 Aug 1990]
    All this critic's reviews
  12. Variety
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    50
    This oft-delayed sequel proves a jumbled, obtuse yet not entirely unsatisfying follow-up to Chinatown, rightly considered one of the best films of the 1970s.
  13. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    50
    Robert Towne's screenplay is less opportunistic than many of his efforts in recent years, although it still contains moments designed merely to shock or titillate.
  14. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Ted Mahar
    42
    The film as a whole is simply an interesting and amusing mess. [10 Aug 1990]
    All this publication's reviews
  15. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Julie Salamon
    40
    It's ended up a weak imitation of the original. [09 Aug 1990]
    All this critic's reviews
  16. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Howe
    40
    At best, the movie comes across as a competently assembled job, a wistful tribute to its former self. At worst, it's wordy, confusing and - here's an ugly word - boring.
  17. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hal Hinson
    10
    What The Two Jakes makes us long for most is the earlier film.
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