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Few Good Men, A
Columbia Pictures

6.5 based on 21 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 9 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

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MPAA RATING: R

Starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak, J.T. Walsh, and Noah Wyle

One man is dead. Two are accused of murder. The entire Marine Corps is on trial. Hollywood heavyweights Cruise, Nicholson and Moore ignite the screen in Rob Reiner's acclaimed drama about the dangerous difference between following orders and following one's conscience. (Columbia TriStar)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Aaron Sorkin (also play)
DIRECTED BY:	Rob Reiner
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 7, 1997  Video: June 30, 1993  Theatrical: December 11, 1992
RUNNING TIME:	138 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

The film picked up 4 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Supporting Actor (Nicholson).

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

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

That the performances are uniformly outstanding is a tribute to Rob Reiner, who directs with masterly assurance, fusing suspense and character to create a movie that literally vibrates with energy.

91

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Like all courtroom dramas, A Few Good Men is gimmicky and synthetic. It's also an irresistible throwback to the sort of sharp-edged entertainment Hollywood once provided with regularity.

90

The New York Times Vincent Canby

A big commercial entertainment of unusually satisfying order. [11 Dec 1992]

90

Variety Todd McCarthy

Expert story construction and compelling thesping and direction make all the narrative elements pay off as if calculated by a precision instrument in which all the parts are working perfectly.

80

Empire Emma Cochrane

This is a timeless thriller, a reminder of how stars who have been so average elsewhere can produce excellent — some career-best — work when given a decent script and a confident director.

80

Washington Post Desson Thomson

An entertainment to be seen and appreciated in momentum. As such, it is constantly gripping

78

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

If anything, A Few Good Men errs by throwing almost too many elements, themes and moral debates into the mix thus, by default, they sometimes seem shallowly developed and overly simple. Then again, that perhaps allows them to connect with more universal experiences.

75

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

Works because it's able to draw so many side issues into its central conflict, spreading its concerns culture-wide. [11 Dec 1992]

75

USA Today Mike Clark

Pace and performances dominate, with popped salutes going to Keifer Sutherland, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Bacon and especially Nicholson's smiling barracuda. [11 Dec 1992]

70

Washington Post Rita Kempley

About as understated as a 21-gun salute... What's missing is anything of Reiner himself.

70

Time Richard Schickel

Men is a little too neat structurally, its moral and human issues a little too clear-cut: at heart it is old-fashioned melodrama. But Sorkin's dialogue is spit-shined, and the energy and conviction with which it is staged and played is more than a compensation; it's transformative. And hugely entertaining. [14 Dec 1992]

63

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film doesn't make us work, doesn't allow us to figure out things for ourselves, is afraid we'll miss things if they're not spelled out.

60

TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)

The final scene, when Kaffee locks horns with Jessep, more than makes up for the predictability of what's come before.

60

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The film's plot...is more contrived than creditable, motivations are not always clear, and some characters, for instance Kiefer Sutherland as a praise the lord and pass the ammunition Marine, are not very convincingly acted. [11 Dec 1992]

60

Wall Street Journal Julie Salamon

Though not terribly interesting as political philosophy, A Few Good Men makes for a passably entertaining movie. [31 Dec 1992, p.A5(E)]

50

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Slick, overly deliberate and brimming with hammy performances...directed by Rob Reiner with glistening, uninspired competence. [11 Dec 1992]

50

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Everything falls into place, click click click. Like many a formulaic piece, this one engages a real theme--here it's the conflict between the concept of duty and the idea of the individual--and does little with it. [25 Jan 1993]

50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

An engaging and sometimes gripping movie, if ultimately a superficial one. Reiner has mastered the surface skills of moviemaking, although the inner depths continue to elude him. [11 Dec 1992]

30

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

I'm usually a sucker for courtroom dramas, but Rob Reiner's highly mechanical filming by numbers of Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of his own cliched and fatuous Broadway play kept putting me to sleep.

25

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott

The performers are powerless to bring life to this moribund courtroom drama...a snoozer.

20

The New Yorker Michael Sragow

The moral discussions operate like a bad pair of elevator shoes: it's obvious that their function is to lift black-and-white melodrama into message-movie paradise. The whole film, with its steady, important-picture pacing and its bits of pseudo-profundity, is a piece of glorified banality. [14 Dec 1992, p.123]

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Discombobulator gave it a2:
Not a bad story, bud sadly let down by poor casting. Jack Nicholson is as highly watchable as ever, but Demi Moore proves yet again that she is one of the worst actress of her generation. She stinks in everything she's done, and dont let me get started on Tom Cruise's wooden performance. Yikes !! The courtroom scene is sadly let down by La Cruise's hambone performance, as he is outclassed by Jack. With better casting it could have been so much more.

Rita P. gave it an8:
One of the best big budget hollywood films of the 90s. There are a few scenes involving exchanges between the main characters that you want to re-play again and again.

Andrew M. gave it a 7:
(7.5) That famous final courtroom scene is legendary stuff and Nicholson's performance still grips me, no matter how many times I see it. This is a very good film, well scripted and directed. One point though: why did they have to use Cruise & Moore? I don't dislike Tom Cruise - in some films he's brilliant (Minority Report, a good example). But in this one, he's merely going through the motions. Moore, I flatly don't like. She's just boring to watch. No presence. Anyway, Nicholson, Bacon, Sutherland, et al, are perfect and help make this a very involving film. Definitely worth watching.

Blanco A. gave it a 9:
So my pal Lohnny and I are driving through La Verne, California, on our way to see this movie at a really big theater (with plush seating and accommodations for the hearing impaired). Anyway, I can see this car stopped at a red light about 100 yeards down the road, inside of which looks like 3 or 4 teenage boys hanging bare asses out the back and side windows to nobody in particular. So I drive up next to them to see what's what. The guys all dropped down, revealing a 70 year old woman at the wheel. At first, she's appears to be hiding her face, probably embarrassed by the boys.... Then all of a sudden, she looks right at me (and Lohnny, who is now transfixed), she sticks out her tongue much further than I thought possible (especially by this old lady), and she begins licking her lips, cheecks and brow in a slow, deranged fashion. I look over at Lohnny who by now has lost all color in his face, his eyes bulging like he'd seen a ghost. The light turns green and he yells, DRIVE!, so I drove. The most perverse, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Family moment in my young life. By the way, the movie was damned good, though. "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"

Pat C. gave it a 3:
Uh, OK, yeah one's responsibility for one's own actions is a convoluted thing if you've got a court martial breathing down your neck, but a distinguished officer corps will sort it out for you. You know, we should give guns only to lawyers, then there would never be any mistakes made in the military. Ah, yes, killing is honorable if done under control, but men as weapons of war must never misfire. Yes Yes Yes it's all very logical and flashy, but if Nicholson hadn't been so dumbed down he would have pointed out the paralysis liberal barristers and their Hollywood partisans inflict on our national defense every chance they get.

Amberlee' S gave it a 5:
Parts of it were interesting, but there were area in the movie that were a bit slow and boring.

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