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Hot Spot, The
Samuel Goldwyn Company


7.5

based on 12 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 2 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, Charles Martin Smith, William Sadler, Jack Nance, Barry Corbin, and Leon Rippy

A lowlife drifter (Johnson) who sells used cars in a Texas burg robs the local bank and gets involved with two women: one bad (Madsen), one innocent (Connelly). Based on Charles Williams' 1952 novel "Hell Hath No Fury." (MGM)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Charles Williams (also book Hell Hath No Fury) Nona Tyson
DIRECTED BY:	Dennis Hopper
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 13, 2000 Video: June 6, 2000 Theatrical: October 12, 1990
RUNNING TIME:	130 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...

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

Seeps with atmosphere, unfolds at a deceptively relaxed pace, steadily accumulates noirish grit, then dizzily plunges into a Lynch-like plumbing of the dark passions and nasty secrets at the heart of Main Street, USA.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A crazy, intentionally ludicrous movie that's a lot of film-noir fun.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Only movie lovers who have marinated their imaginations in the great B movies from RKO and Republic will recognize The Hot Spot as a superior work in an old tradition - as a manipulation of story elements as mannered and deliberate, in its way, as variations on a theme for the piano.

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

Pretty silly. The Hot Spot certainly is, and it's occasionally quite entertaining for it, though the picture never really achieves a dimension beyond that of a Playboy Party Joke. [26 Oct 1990, Friday, p.I]

USA Today Mike Clark

An overlong guilty pleasure. [12 Oct 1990, Life, 4D]

Entertainment Weekly Melissa Pierson

It's also supposed to be atmospheric, noirish, and touched with nihilism. But the director, Hollywood bad boy Dennis Hopper, lays it all on so thick that the film verges on self-parody.

Los Angeles Times Peter Rainer

The pulpiness is less homage than rip-off. There are no tricks up this film's frayed sleeve… Fatalism plus a lot of heavy breathing, and a flash of skin--it's a winning formula, all right. These movies are like Harlequin Romances for slumming highbrows [12 Oct 1990]

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Pretty enjoyable as a piece of campy sleaze--especially for the first half hour, before the storytelling starts to dawdle.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Part of the problem is its length; at two hours and ten minutes it meanders rather than building up a head of steam and barreling straight through logic and plausibility on the way to Hell.

Washington Post Hal Hinson

Madsen may not be the most egregiously untalented of the new movie beauties, but she's close to it. As Dolly, she presents a Southern accent as ludicrous as any in captivity; she keeps trying for Blanche DuBois and coming out with Gomer Pyle.

Empire Kim Newman

Director Dennis Hopper continues the fumbling manner of "Colors" and the forthcoming-but-disowned "Catchfire," drawing out what ought to be a 72 minute B-picture into two hours and ten minutes of sweaty silliness with three pretty stars who can't quite bring themselves to be camp enough for the material.

San Francisco Chronicle Judy Stone

A case of ho-hum humping leading to boring betrayal. The ingredients are predictable and the snail's pace is punishing. [26 Oct 1990, Daily Datebook, p.E3]

The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

stuart gave it a10:
To a non american, this film grabs the idea of how life in middle america is perfectly, though deep down we know not be true, it still great for the imagination.

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Hot Spot, The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Hot Spot, The
Samuel Goldwyn Company