Perfect Crime

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

De la Iglesia is a mercilessly agile talent.

Film Threat Eric Campos

A wicked good time.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It's great fun, propelled by a terrific musical score by Roque Banos that combines the hammering doom of Bernard Herrmann, the antic jollity of Nino Rota and the urgent sprints of Lalo "Mission: Impossible" Schifrin--often in the same crazy scene.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Tremendously funny and entertaining.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

El Crimen Perfecto is a joyride that leaves you feeling drunk and dizzy and swearing that you haven't touched a drop.

LA Weekly John Patterson

Writer-director Alex de la Iglesia's bouncy, swaggering satire of ethics-deficient, survival-of-the-fittest free enterprise, peopled by broad grotesques and hysterical caricatures, adds Chabrolian callousness to a cartoonish worldview reminiscent of Frank Tashlin or Joe Dante at their most frenzied.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Perfectly delightful.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

With his caustic humor, director de la Iglesia is being billed as "the next Almodovar."

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

If anyone is capable of pulling off a deviled screwball with cheeky panache, it's de la Iglesia, who's one of the world's great nutty directors yet to find the American following he so richly deserves.

Wall Street Journal Jim Fusilli

Fits nicely among the contemporary comedies that teeter at the brink of delivering messages of one sort or another, but are in fact, nothing more than lots of fun. Which is no small achievement.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

A seamless mix of satire and suspense, with inspired performances by Toledo and Monica Cervera.

The New York Times Lawrence Van Gelder

Mr. Toledo's performance as the shallow and cowardly, yet strangely sympathetic Rafael is a wonder of comic timing, while Ms. Cervera is unforgettable as Lourdes, the ugly duckling who becomes not a swan, but a monster.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

As it progresses from black comedy to something approaching surreal horror, El Crimen Perfecto swells into a nightmare reminiscent of Griffin Dunne's journey through Soho hell in "After Hours."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Gianni Truzzi

Far from perfect, but it only commits minor infractions of inconsistency and zeal for every plot twist.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Hitchcock and Almodóvar this film isn't, but it's a worthwhile and fairly amusing effort.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Fast, frantic and furious, but it is not steadily funny. While not boring, it is too light to be taken seriously.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

My advice is to choose the first half, where things are really funny until they aren't.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The first 60 minutes of this black comedy are brilliantly sustained, but then director and co-writer de la Iglesia loses his way.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

El Crimen Perfecto has energy, color, spirit and lively performances, but what it does not have are very many laughs.

Village Voice Jorge Morales

At its most ludicrously self-referential, the film achieves the perfect meta-moment when Toledo, seeking pointers on how to get away with murder, buys a copy of "Dial M for Murder" (released in Spain as Perfect Crime) and notices the title scans incorrectly as Ferpect Crime.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

There's not enough good material to fill the film's overlong 105 minutes. Is there an editor in the house?