|
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
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Formula 51
Screen Gems Inc.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong violence, language, drug content and some sexuality
Starring
Samuel L. Jackson,
Robert Carlyle,
Rhys Ifans,
Emily Mortimer,
Meat Loaf,
Ricky Tomlinson,
and
Nigel Whitmey
Elmo McElroy (Jackson) is an American master chemist who heads to England to set up his last big deal, the introduction of a new designer drug to the European underworld. When he hooks up with a Liverpool local (Carlyle), his plans quickly go awry in this action-packed comedy.
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Stel Pavlou
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Ronny Yu
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 4, 2003
Video: February 4, 2003
Theatrical: October 18, 2002
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
92 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA / Canada / UK |
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...
75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Bloody and bloody funny, and Jackson and Carlyle make the best salt-and-pepper team since Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte knocked heads in ''48 HRS., '' but ultimately the movie can't find a way out of its own dead end.
75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
It is possible, however improbable, that a "bad" movie can still be highly enjoyable. Formula 51 is such a film.
70
Film Threat
Clint Morris
Sure it’s brainless fun, but Formula 51 is a trip well worth taking.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Ray Conlogue
A formula flick. And the formula is not 51 times more entertaining than usual. Maybe 1.5, at best.
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Outrageously confident and wearing a kilt through the mayhem, Jackson proves once again that he has few equals in bringing off a broad, over-the-top lead.
50
USA Today
Mike Clark
Anything goes, though director Ronny Yu keeps the idiocy on a fast pace.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A messy fish-out-of-water gangland romp.
50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The film should have been called ''Lock, Stock and Two Wilting Barrels.''
40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Cocky, vulgar and very noisy picture.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's a movie that puts Samuel Jackson in kilts, Robert Carlyle in a red Jaguar, and the audience -- if they have any sense at all -- out in the lobby, looking for another picture.
38
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Passed as slowly as if I'd been sitting naked on an igloo, Formula 51 sank from quirky to jerky to utter turkey.
38
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
It has graceful layers and folds and a nice swing to it, and Jackson moves superbly in it. Unfortunately, I'm talking about the kilt, not the movie.
30
Salon.com
Jeff Stark
If explosive defecation is your idea of a laff riot, this picture -- and the Headrillaz soundtrack, by extension -- should be perfect fun.
30
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Too often, Formula 51 fails to differentiate between gleeful excess and white noise.
30
Village Voice
Justine Elias
Emily Mortimer and Robert Carlyle generate heat as criminal lovers, but most of the cast just engages in embarrassing scenery-gnawing.
25
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A fourth-rate "Pulp Fiction" with accents you can't understand.
25
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
Only Emily Mortimer maintains a measure of dignity, playing the slinky assassin named Dakota. Whether her restraint was by her design or the filmmakers', she'll come to appreciate that she all but disappears amid the caterwauling and purging of a story that should have died in Liverpool.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
It isn't simple bad taste that Formula 51 deals in, but a total vacuum of feeling.
25
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Desperately unfunny and unexciting.
25
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Feels like it's been pasted together from 51 other movies -- none of them good.
20
Variety
Derek Elley
There's an appalling amount of talent at waste up on the screen, starting with Jackson and Carlyle whose tall/short, silent/motormouth double act never clicks.
20
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
This tired action comedy is the usual weave of over-the-top violence and cross-cultural shtick.
20
LA Weekly
John Patterson
A waste of the filmmakers' time and ours, and offering further evidence that, outside the art house, much British cinema has its head jammed tightly up its own arse.
11
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
A muddled mess of bad-lad clichés, and Jackson's obvious talents only serve to point out how godawful everyone else seems to be.
10
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
A witless, gruesome barrage of jokey violence and lame trans-Atlantic humor, kept moving by the pointless, derivative kineticism of Mr. Yu's hyperactive cuts and splices.
8
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
As sometimes occurs in unsupervised experiments, the result proves foul-smelling and potentially toxic.
0
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Stars Samuel L. Jackson in the worst role of his career -- one hopes.
0
Los Angeles Times
Manohla Dargis
An execrable mess that leaves no genre cliché unturned or human body or soul untrammeled.
0
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Not a second of it is believable; not a tenth of a second of it is refreshing; not a millionth of a second is worthwhile
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Read more user comments...
Discuss this movie in our forums |
|
