Black Knight

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Lawrence is miraculous, as always.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It has more hilarious throwaway lines than most comedies offer up as their best jokes, and it is consistently inspired, energetic and, most important, light on its feet.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Martin Lawrence finally gets to show what he can do as a screen comedian.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

It's a shrewd little comedy that uses good British actors to challenge its star, who rises to the occasion.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Though the humor of Black Knight never quite achieves the giddiness of a Monty Python comedy, Lawrence creates a character more lovable than either Bill or Ted on either of their excellent adventures.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Lawrence, as always, exerts the appeal of a con man too lightweight to buy into his own con. He'd be funnier, though, if he didn't insist on being the only funny thing in the room.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It relies on short bursts of Lawrence's zaniness, punctuated by an occasional joke about stinking feet or vile breath. For his admirers, that will be plenty.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

It's hard to find the movie unpleasant, but it's hard to imagine it causing any strong reaction at all.

USA Today Claudia Puig

We had hoped for just a funny movie, but instead we get some laughs and plenty of yawns.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Too bad it's not so funny. Almost every gag in Black Knight feels forced and contrived, as if the movie is desperate to squeeze laughs out of us.

New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein

Goes by relatively swiftly and painlessly, despite the completely ragtag nature of its construction, but there is not an inspired moment in it.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The best thing about Black Knight is when it finally says goodnight.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Isn't merely bad, it's utterly flavorless and the filmmakers are either too lazy or too cynical to even pretend there's a story behind Lawrence's 21st century homeboy shtick in 14th-century garb.

TV Guide Steve Simels

The lame and apparently tacked-on ending (which seems to crib footage from 2000's "Gladiator"), suggests the rather terrifying prospect of a Roman-era sequel. Five words: Be afraid, be very afraid.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

This time-travel scenario is by now shopworn, and the normally riotous Lawrence, a manic and gifted clown, is hamstrung in his efforts to eke humor from the anemic script.

Variety Joe Leydon

Arriving so soon after "A Knight's Tale" -- and the 25th-anniversary reissue of the classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Black Knight is a textbook example of too much, too late.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

If this cheesy, cheap-looking update of "A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court" had been co-produced by the Ku Klux Klan itself, it could hardly be more repellently stereotypical.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Dismal time-travel comedy that makes "Big Momma's House" look like "Citizen Kane."

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

But in the end everything comes down to Lawrence, who has yet to develop a truly distinct comedic sensibility.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's fitting that Black Knight, the new time-travel movie with Martin Lawrence, should arrive at the start of the Christmas season, because the season gives us the perfect word to describe it: humbug.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Martin Lawrence can be hysterically funny. You'd never guess that from watching the remarkably wasteful endeavor known as Black Knight.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Jamal (Martin Lawrence), starts trying to make the best of a bad situation, which becomes our job too.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A movie that knows its audience. Its underlying philosophy might be: why try harder when this is all they expect?

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Suited only for unwitting under-twelvers (though even they may not outlast the midpoint evaporation of Lawrence's shtick).

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

"It's no longer funny, but he refuses to give up the joke." That just about sums it up except for the film's shopworn plot -- and its wretchedly cheap production design.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

There's precious little to like about the witless and decidedly tedious Black Knight other than the fact that it's unlikely to generate a sequel.