Metacritic Film

Go

Starring Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley, Taye Diggs, J.E. Freeman, William Fichtner, Jay Mohr, and Scott Wolf

MPAA RATING: R for strong drug content, sexuality, language and some violence

Sony/TriStar Pictures
Crime
103 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters April 9, 1999

Set over a 24-hour period in L.A. and Las Vegas, this unconventionally structured comedy is told from the decidedly off-center perspectives of three parties involved in the outrageous events that surround a botched drug deal. (Columbia TriStar)

WRITTEN BY
John August

DIRECTED BY
Doug Liman

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

72 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 Entertainment Weekly
The one truly thrilling movie I've seen so far this year.
100 New York Post Rod Dreher
Breakneck, raucous and thoroughly exhilarating.
100 Los Angeles Times
Offers breathtaking comic-action fantasy….Exhilarating and sharp, it never stops for a second. [9 April 1999, Calendar, p.F-6]
90 Washington Post
One of the most exhilarating movies ever made about absolutely nothing.
90 Washington Post
The latest furiously paced, perversely entertaining "Pulp Fiction" for puppies.
90 Mr. Showbiz
John August's script is exciting, witty, original material, and this film's got the talent to match.
90 TNT RoughCut
Manages to present rave youth's on-the-go attitude as well as "Swingers" exposed its hipster culture.
88 San Francisco Examiner
A triptych whirling on a Lazy Susan of revolving character perspectives.
88 New York Daily News
Darkly hilarious.
80 The New York Times
He (Liman) creates a film that lives up to the momentum of its title and doesn't really need much more.
80 Time
Here is a picture that has wit, a hairpin-turn narrative, high pizazz and ensemble star quality. Ready, set, Go.
80 TV Guide
A dark and edgy teen comedy that's also one of the most excitingly unpredictable American comedies since "Pulp Fiction."
75 San Francisco Chronicle
A nasty little picture with a lot of wit and impudence.
75 Chicago Tribune Marc Caro
Ultimately is a fast-moving trip to nowhere. The buzz is enjoyable while it lasts, but don't be surprised by the sour aftertaste.
75 Chicago Sun-Times
An entertaining, clever black comedy that takes place entirely in Tarantino-land.
75 The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Like circus acrobats who bounce up smiling, the characters end up on their feet, and you realize in retrospect that they survived because somebody, finally, stopped to think. A final thought on Go: Go.
75 Boston Globe
"Pulp Fiction" wannabes don't get much slicker or edgier than Go.
75 USA Today
This dark comedy comes off more giddy than gritty.
70 LA Weekly
Entertaining and slight, topical and cannily familiar.
70 Village Voice
A showy exercise in nervous grit, Go never strays too far from a sense of itself as stunt.
70 Salon.com
Liman's buoyant direction is almost enough to make one forgive the film its heavily appropriated plot (including its groaner of a punchline).
70 Variety
An overly calculated concoction that nonetheless delivers a pretty good rush.
67 Portland Oregonian
Bounces along magnetically even when the storytelling goes a bit flat.
67 Austin Chronicle
Relentless and mercurial, this new outing by "Swingers" director Liman takes off somewhere around Mach 3 and never lets up, leaving you with either a pounding headache or a wicked grin, or perhaps both.
63 ReelViews
Fast-paced and often witty, but ultimately vapid.
50 Film.com
When the writing is good, Go is good, and when the writing is flat, things fall apart.
50 Newsweek
John August's trickily structured script owes an all too obvious debt to "Pulp Fiction," but Liman's film is more like kiddie Tarantino.
50 Christian Science Monitor
Although some of the acting is strong, the atmosphere is so relentlessly sleazy that many moviegoers will want to go long before the final credits.
40 The Onion (A.V. Club)
Escapism of the worst sort, a manipulative exercise in style that preys on the passivity of its characters and its audience. In the end, Go offers little more than the sour, impermanent rush of a pixie stick.

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