All About the Benjamins

Boston Globe Jonathan Perry

All About the Benjamins has: flash, cash, and enough videogenic eye candy to make ''Miami Vice'' look like ''Little House on the Prairie.''

Film Threat Marcus D. Russell

Did what I had yet to see any other entrant in this arena do, it crossed generational lines and had 18 year-olds and 50 year-olds talking about the merits of the same film.... and that is truly it’s greatest accomplishment.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This is a movie fantasy, folks -- like James Bond, without the smarm and martinis.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

It's fun to watch the stocky, scowling Ice Cube and skinny, jittery Epps play off each other; they click on screen.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Ellen A. Kim

This is Epps' showcase. He can't cover all the film's flaws, but he'll sure gab your ear off trying.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The strange case of a movie that clunks in every possible way but the ultimate way -- it entertains.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Unfortunately, the home-run performances of Cube and Epps are handicapped by inept and illogical action sequences.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Oddly, the most appealing thing about the movie is that in an age of ever-escalating special effects, it's refreshingly low-tech, more like a '70s action movie than a modern-day one.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Such overkill might seem like an asset to teenage boys (and those who think like them). The rest of us are better off not wasting our Washingtons.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Something puddles to nothing in this relentless Miami sun.

Village Voice Nick Rutigliano

Glitz and speed help alleviate cavernous plot holes and rote gangsta misogyny, while the gleeful violence, pointlessly sappy lulls, and racial sparring are leavened a bit by capricious auto-critique.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

This is high school fantasy straight outta Compton. As such, it has a certain compelling enthusiasm.

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

Its dark-edged crime-caper plot is so formulaic it seems almost ritualized. Yet Ice Cube and Mike Epps enact their standard odd-couple tango with such ease and brio, you'd think they'd never seen such movies before.

Variety Robert Koehler

Boilerplate crime comedy.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Ice Cube possesses real screen presence, and it's a shame to see him squander his talents here. He and Epps made me laugh in "Next Friday." They made me squirm here.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Director Kevin Bray, whose clichéd style betrays his music-video roots, devotes far too much time to the mechanics of the illogical plot.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Strings of four-letter words are a poor substitute for dialogue, and it's not until the movie is almost over that someone realizes there's no reason, other than assumed macho posturing, for Cube's character to go after these bad guys so hard.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Those who need little more than a car chase, gunplay, pretty girls and a solid soundtrack will be entertained. And Ice Cube fans won't be disappointed. Everyone else may want to think twice before shelling out hard-earned dollars.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

This movie, a chaotic caper film at heart, wrecks its comic tone with some moments of gruesome violence.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

A witless, bloody, unpleasant mismatched-buddy movie.

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

The whole movie feels stiff and awkward whenever the actors stop chasing each other long enough to talk.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

Plays like a knockoff of Michael Bay's already derivative and much more fun "Bad Boys," only with even less plot. It also recalls the worst qualities of John Singleton's mean-spirited "Shaft."

Washington Post Desson Thomson

You can laugh with or without irony. Or you can simply stay away.

Washington Post Teresa Wiltz

It's painful watching a talented thespian diminish himself so. It's clear he did it for the Benjamins.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

The comedy is tepid, the action is dopey and even the violence is boring and occasionally cruel.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

The unnecessary nastiness, even sadism, of much of the violence also bears mentioning if you're expecting more of the benignly cartoonish silliness of Cube's lone directing effort, "The Players Club."