| 90 |
Rolling Stone
One of the best movies of the year and by far the most entertaining.
|
| 90 |
Film.com
Practically perfect in its unpretentious way, MGM's Get Shorty is the kind of smart, witty, polished entertainment that restores one's faith in the studio system.
|
| 90 |
Washington Post
In Get Shorty, director Barry Sonnenfeld's spirited adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel, Travolta's rebirth accelerates directly into adulthood.
|
| 90 |
Time
A smart, shrewdly crafted movie.
|
| 90 |
Newsweek
Barry Sonnenfeld's bouncy, immensely likable adaptation.
|
| 90 |
Washington Post
Hal Hinson
Barry Sonnenfeld's irresistibly charming lampoon of Hollywood.
|
| 90 |
Film.com
Director Barry Sonnenfeld captures Hollywood in sunny tones, with fluid camera moves providing maximum comic effect.
|
| 88 |
Chicago Sun-Times
One of the pleasures of Get Shorty is watching the way the plot moves effortlessly from crime to the movies - not a long distance, since both industries are based on fear, greed, creativity and intimidation.
|
| 88 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Hackman is unexpectedly hilarious. With protruding top teeth and a professorial beard, he's a motormouth, badgering and abusing one minute, wheedling and fawning the next.
|
| 88 |
San Francisco Examiner
Barbara Shulgasser
This movie is charming the way so few movies are anymore.
|
| 88 |
ReelViews
With Get Shorty, Sonnenfeld has shown that broad appeal doesn't necessarily equate with stupidity. That's a lesson Hollywood should learn.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
The author's sardonic voice has been lost in most films based on his fiction, but this one nicely captures that unruffled Leonard authority. And since Get Shorty is about Hollywood, it invites the sneaky self-mockery that gives this film its comic punch. [20 October 1995, p. C1]
|
| 80 |
Variety
Staff (Not credited)
Good, sly fun.
|
| 80 |
Chicago Reader
An entertaining comedy-thriller directed with bounce (if not much nuance) by Barry Sonnenfeld.
|
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times
The jokes are quick, with clever jibes alternating with double-crosses and the occasional murder, and the streamlined plot unrolls like a colorful ball of twine.
|
| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
The film is wickedly hilarious but more in a droll and knowing kind of sense than a har-de-har-har manner.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Get Shorty is exquisitely cast, with droll, well-nuanced performances.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
One of the sharper, funnier, better-cast, better-written movies around right now. But there's something about it that, well, comes up short. [20 October 1995, Friday, p.C]
|
| 75 |
Christian Science Monitor
The picture has enough assets to please moviegoers willing to put up with its many four-letter words and the bursts of violence that spring from nowhere at unexpected moments. [27 October 1995, Arts Film, p.12]
|
| 75 |
USA Today
Though it sounds like a blueprint for either disaster or dynamite, the movie is a bit too controlled to be either.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Harlan Jacobson
Get Shorty's assortment of lowlifes and high rollers is a familiar one, but it's still deeply satisfying.
|
| 60 |
Mr. Showbiz
A smirky black comedy that, like its John Lurie score, is jazzy, dry, and light on its feet.
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