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Midnight Run

EMAIL PRINTUniversal Pictures

9.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 9 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Crime

Written by: George Gallo

Directed by: Martin Brest

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 20, 1988
DVD: July 22, 1998

Running Time: 126 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R

Starring Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Foronjy, and Robert Miranda

Bounty hunter Jack Walsh (De Niro) is offered $100,000 from a bail bondsman to capture fugitive accountant Jonathan "the Duke" Mardukas (Grodin) and bring him to Los Angeles in time for his trial date. Walsh must avoid a rival bounty hunter, the FBI, and the mob to earn his payday.

Also On Metacritic

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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database

What The Critics Said

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

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

One of the most entertaining, best executed, original road pictures ever.

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100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Midnight Run has thrills, excellent performances, touching moments, slick plotting, lively dialogue, plenty of laughs, beautiful locations and finely detailed direction. It's an across-the-board success, the best new movie I've seen in years. [20 July 1988]

Time Richard Schickel

A performance like De Niro's, in a well-made entertainment like Midnight Run, is cheap at any price. And capable of restoring the audience's faith in the form. [25 July 1988]

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

Graciously filmed by Martin Brest and imaginatively performed by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, the tired concept yields a steady stream of little discoveries and surprising insights that add up to some uncommonly rich comedy. [20 July 1988]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott

The virtue of Midnight Run is not that it does anything new; the virtue is that it does everything old so well.

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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Whoever cast De Niro and Grodin must have had a sixth sense for the chemistry they would have; they work together so smoothly, and with such an evident sense of fun, that even their silences are intriguing.

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USA Today Donna Britt

The film is a bit long because Brest wants to give you time to believe Walsh and Mardukas' inevitable friendship. We do. And Run adds poignancy without detracting from the action. [20 July 1988]

Los Angeles Times Michael Wilmington

There isn't a single performance in Midnight Run that doesn't have a pulse, that doesn't show the actors at their best or near-best, especially De Niro. [20 July 1988]

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Miraculously, De Niro and Grodin turn this sow's ear into a plausible vehicle for a buddy movie, and thanks to both of them, this movie springs to life.

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Film Threat Brad Laidman

The funniest buddy movie ever and a generally daffy one at that. It features some of the most genuinely stupid and amusing tough guys in the history of cinema, and a tantalizing slow burn by Deniro.

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Washington Post Desson Thomson

Robert De Niro is one extended pleasure in Midnight Run -- a real actor putting his considerable talent to work in a well-scripted comedy. And he's more than complemented by Charles Grodin, a brilliant comic performer who has been wasted up to now in small roles or lousy movies. [22 July 1988]

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Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Grodin is brilliant, though, practically stealing the movie without an extra word or unnecessary gesture. He's an uncommonly talented actor, and it's good to see him in a movie that gives him a chance to show his stuff. [22 July 1988]

TV Guide Staff (Non Credited)

Director Martin Brest has allowed the actors to improvise, and their resulting interaction is more realistic, funny, and surprising than that of any buddy film released in the last several years.

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The New York Times Vincent Canby

Mr. De Niro and Mr. Grodin are lunatic delights, which is somewhat more than can be said for the movie, whose mechanics keep getting in the way of the performances. [20 July 1988, p.C15]

Washington Post Hal Hinson

Too routinely formulaic to be anything more than modestly diverting. But as modest diversions go it cruises along at a reasonably brisk pace and, in the smaller details -- the off-in-the-margins doodling -- it has its rewards. [20 July 1988]

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The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Midnight Run is two films. One is a succession of bright, razor-edge, nutty dialogues between two men. The other is the plot that keeps them together, which is stale and full of boring violent-comic action. [29 Aug 1988]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Neil F gave it a10:
I will never tire of this. Grodin is sublime and De Niro proves he CAN do comedy.

Charles C. gave it a9:
A classic buddy comedy thriller. By far my favorite roles by both Grodin and de Niro!

Jaehee K. gave it a10:
Classic. Absolute classic!

Patrick gave it a10:
This is as well-written a movie (the fire-side chat between DeNiro and Grodin; the scene where DeNiro visits his ex-wife, Wendy Phillips; when Kotto interrogates Ashton; the scene at the airport between DeNiro and Dennis Farina) as I have ever seen. Add to that how well-cast (the aforementioned DeNiro, Grodin, Kotto, Farina, Pantoliano) it was, and i feel badly for anyone who doesn't give it an 8 out of 10. Probably those perves who liked the depth of "Sideways".

Barry S gave it a10:
Outstading at every level and something rare, a movie that has many outdated elements (smoking on the bus, guns on planes, etc.) yet remains fresh today as it was so many years ago.

Pat C. gave it an 8:
A Buddy-from-hell buddy movie. Every twist in the plot leads to another surprise. Deftly handled plot progression. Funny but not frivolous. In the end the attitudes of the lead characters are not quite realistic, but one wishes they were. Intelligent while remaining accessible.

Yoon C. gave it a 10:
A true miracle, a rare instance where a formulaic piece(road movie/crime thriller/buddy movie)attained the level of art. Brilliantly written, directed, and performed it will warm your soul as well as thrill your senses. Best of all the chemistry between Grodin and Deniro is pure magic, and the development of their relationship grows richer by finely measured increments. Minor characters all shine in one of the most stunning assemblage of character actors ever. Even the villains are not without complexity. Also, remarkable are scenes as quiet, touching, and personal as any caught on film: the nighttime conversations between the two leads as they coast down the highway, Deniro's refusal to accept money from his estranged daughter, etc. A wonderment as action film, comedy, drama.