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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Fast and the Furious, The
Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language
Starring
Vin Diesel,
Paul Walker,
Michelle Rodriguez,
Jordana Brewster,
Rick Yune,
Beau Holden,
and
Hill Harper
A fierce and frenzied look at rival Los Angeles street teams who use street racing as a means of establishing power. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Crime
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Gary Scott Thompson
Erik Bergquist
David Ayer
Ken Li (magazine article)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Rob Cohen
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 2, 2002
Video: January 2, 2002
Theatrical: June 22, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
107 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...
90
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Shrewdly conceived, confidently executed and outrageously entertaining.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
The result is an intensely involving entertainment that can be enjoyed by viewers who scarcely know how their own cars work.
80
Washington Post
Curt Fields
Along with the cast's charm, they provide enough fuel for a fun one (movie).
80
Village Voice
Amy Taubin
(You) might be charmed by the film's blend of kineticism, car-culture rituals, and hilariously flat-footed dialogue.
80
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Loud, trashy, implausible and exciting, The Fast and the Furious may not have much of a brain, but it's definitely got a pulse.
80
Variety
Todd McCarthy
A gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed.
80
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
The best cheap thrill to come out of Hollywood in ages -- it's a shot of tonic for the current blockbuster bloat.
75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Turbo-charged wallbanger with the IQ of a tire iron. But it jumps off the screen with the mindless panache of a good bad movie.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Not a great movie, but it delivers what it promises to deliver, and knows that a chase scene is supposed to be about something more than special effects.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Something special about it. It's a formula movie, to be sure, but it's Formula One.
70
New Times (L.A.)
M.V. Moorhead
The movie may be intellectually sophomoric, dramatically adolescent and morally vacuous, but it's good fun while it lasts.
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
With its machine-gun editing, extremely loud (mostly rap) soundtrack, occasional music-video interlude and overall in-your-face sensibility, it's a movie that's determined to chase anyone past age 30 or so right out of theater.
67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Pure, unadulterated teen exploitation filmmaking at its best -- a heady, rocketing blast of fast cars, loud hip-hop, and a script so cheesy it might as well have “Made in Wisconsin” stamped on it.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A massive compendium of youth-movie/pedal-to-the-metal cliches. But man, is it fast!
63
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
There's some undeniable appeal to watching a well-oiled, built-for-speed machine operating with its pedal to the metal -- even if it's destined to wind up in flames before the finish line.
63
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
High-grade B flick about illegal street racing among gangs in Los Angeles applies the brakes only for the bare minimum of plot injection.
60
Slate
David Edelstein
Fearless as these racers are, it's hard to muster enthusiasm for a movie that plays chicken and then swerves about a mile before the collision.
60
Mr. Showbiz
Kevin Maynard
Strictly where the boys are: posing, posturing, and talking engine envy.
60
Chicago Reader
Reece Pendleton
While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie.
50
New York Post
Jonathan Foreman
Better than any automobile flick put out by Hollywood in a while and, thanks to some genuinely exciting moments, it is easily the most entertaining so far of this summer's big, brainless action movies.
50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title. It could have used a bit of a fuel injection itself.
50
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
This is not a movie about actors. It's a movie about racing, chasing, chicks and adrenaline -- just what many theatergoers are dying for in a summer dominated by a sweet ogre and a dumbed-down historical tragedy.
40
TV Guide
Tanya L. Edwards
This testosterone-driven, car-crime picture evokes the testosterone-driven, surf-crime picture "Point Break."
40
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Neither fast nor furious, this film belongs in the section of the supermarket where blah-white labels and big block lettering denote brandless cigarettes, vodka, crushed pineapple and, in this case, action picture.
38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
If it worked, The Fast and the Furious would put viewers in the same position as the policeman protagonist, attracted to speed but appalled by crime. Instead it sentences you to an hour and a half in a high-decibel limbo.
30
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Rob Cohen, who last directed "The Skulls" --ouch! -- can consider this one another career-killing skid mark.
25
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Drowns in its own noxious fumes. Who knew being bad could be so dull?
25
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Unless you live and breathe exhaust fumes, there isn't much to sustain a viewer through a lame story and dialogue so pathetic.
20
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
The Fast and the Furious is "Rebel Without a Cause" without a cause. The young and the restless with gas fumes. The quick and the dead with skid marks.
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 225 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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