|

New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search
Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
17
88 Minutes
55
Baby Mama
78
Before I Forget
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
75
Boy A
32
Chapter 27
54
CSNY: Déjà Vu
31
Deception
64
Fall, The
51
Finding Amanda
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
34
Happening, The
27
How to Rob a Bank
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
79
Iron Man
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
62
Kabluey
56
Leatherheads
72
Lou Reed's Berlin
24
Love Guru, The
37
Made of Honor
65
Married Life
74
Mongol
52
Mother of Tears, The
70
Outsourced
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
51
Promotion, The
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
30
Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
67
Snow Angels
37
Speed Racer
70
Standard Operating Procedure
61
Stuck
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
56
Then She Found Me
79
Visitor, The
37
War, Inc.
65
Water Lilies
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
39
Young People F**king
75
Young@Heart
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Paranoid Park
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
79
Visitor, The
79
Iron Man
78
Before I Forget
75
Young@Heart
75
Boy A
74
Mongol
72
Lou Reed's Berlin
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Outsourced
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
67
Snow Angels
65
Married Life
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
65
Water Lilies
64
Fall, The
62
Kabluey
61
Stuck
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
56
Leatherheads
56
Then She Found Me
55
Baby Mama
55
Pathology
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
CSNY: Déjà Vu
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
52
Mother of Tears, The
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
49
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie, The
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
46
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
39
Young People F**king
37
Made of Honor
37
War, Inc.
37
Speed Racer
34
Happening, The
32
Chapter 27
31
Deception
30
Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour
27
How to Rob a Bank
24
Love Guru, The
17
88 Minutes
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Bad Lieutenant
Aries Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: NC-17
Starring
Harvey Keitel,
Brian McElroy,
Frankie Acciarito,
Peggy Gormley,
Stella Keitel,
Dana Dee,
Victor Argo,
and
Paul Calderon
A New York cop (Keitel) is hopelessy addicted to drugs, gambling, and sex, in this intense, hallucinatory portrait of sin and redemption. The film follows the lieutenant as he makes his way to various crime scenes, concerned only with taking bets from his fellow cops on the outcome of the ongoing National League playoffs. An investigation into the rape of a nun leads to his spiritual breakdown at the church crime scene, where he sees Jesus and the road to his salvation.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Abel Ferrara
Zoë Lund
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Abel Ferrara
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 10, 1998
Video: January 12, 1999
Theatrical: November 20, 1992
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
98 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It is not a "dirty movie," and in fact takes spirituality and morality more seriously than most films do. And in the bad lieutenant, Keitel has given us one of the great screen performances in recent years.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Not only more crazy than “Reservoir Dogs,'' but it also feels more real. [1 Jan 1993, Daily Notebook, p.D1]
91
Entertainment Weekly
Staff (Not Credited)
For all its scenes of degradation (five minutes of which have been shorn for an R-rated cut; we recommend the original NC-17 version), Bad Lieutenant is a deeply moral movie. It's not pretty-it's not even very realistic-but it does matter.

90
Variety
Staff (Not Credited)
Abel Ferrara's uncompromising Bad Lieutenant is a harrowing journey observing a corrupt NY cop sink into the depths, with an extraordinary and uninhibited performance by Harvey Keitel in the title role.

80
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
There's an undeniable formal elegance in the way Ferrara, who coauthored the script with Zoe Lund, frames and holds certain shots, and Keitel certainly gives his all in this 1992 entry in the Raging Bull redemptive sweepstakes.

80
Empire
Ian Nathan
Abel Ferrara out-sleazes even his own grubby oeuvre with this powerful if overbearing study of a soul swallowed by depravity.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
What it lacks in charm, it compensates for with audacity and single-mindedness of vision.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Pick your cliche - searing, rivetting, haunting - Keitel delivers a performance to rival Brando's in "Last Tango In Paris."

75
Chicago Tribune
Dave Kehr
For Keitel, this is the Scorsese film that Scorsese never gave him, in which he gets to elbow Robert De Niro away from center stage and take the best part for himself. He seizes the opportunity: Bad Lieutenant immediately becomes one of the defining roles of his career. [22 Jan 1993, Friday, p.C]
70
TV Guide
Staff (Non Credited)
Harvey Keitel gives an astonishing performance here... Though hardly a film for all sensibilities, Bad Lieutenant has the courage of its own convictions, and follows them to the bitter end.

70
Washington Post
Hal Hinson
Ferrara is clearly drawing an equation between the criminals' actions and The Lieutenant's, and as trite (and potentially shameless) as this may sound, it actually works.

70
Los Angeles Times
Peter Rainer
It's a film enthralled by its own lower depths… Although Bad Lieutenant is structured as a redemptive thriller, it functions primarily as a freak show with religioso overtones. [30 Dec 1992, Calendar, p.F-7]
70
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
Mr. Ferrara has his saving graces, too, the chief one being raw talent, which he continues to display while telling even the most far-fetched story.

60
Time
Richard Corliss
A serious film about the gnawing of conscience and the thirst for redemption, but the tone is so dispassionately vile it may leave viewers shaken or sick. [16 Nov 1992, p.95]
50
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
As good as the lead actor is, he's not enough to save this picture from landing on the scrap-heap of uninspired, derivative, and grotesquely distasteful character studies. Ferrara is definitely no Martin Scorsese.

50
USA Today
Mike Clark
It's the first film to include both a cameo appearance by Jesus and a full-frontal nude shot of Harvey Keitel dancing in a drugged stupor. [20 Nov 1992, Life, p.4D]
40
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Despite a glut of luridness, the story line feels essentially flat, as Keitel stumbles through New York in an immoral, unchanging haze. It is only the strength of Keitel's performance that gives his personality human dimension.

30
The New Yorker
Michael Sragow
Yes, you get to see Harvey Keitel's penis; the only surprise is that Jesus keeps His under wraps.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|