78
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOne of the purest and most uncompromising of modern films noir. It captures above all the lonely, exhausted lives of its characters.
- 100Time OutTime OutNobody trusts anybody, and they're right. Dern, always awkward, has matured into a showpiece of behavioural hairpin bends. Excellent.
- 100Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversA hot-wired crime thriller that captures Thompson's flair for hard action, malicious wit and fevered eroticism.
- 80EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanAs the drama circles their inaction, this trio of excellent performances fills the screen with a form of spiritual exhaustion, and the film slumps into noir’s typically happy-clappy comeuppance of failure, betrayal and ruin. But the mood has caught on, and the film, stamped with a stunning visual emptiness, haunts the memory for long after its sour close.
- 80Los Angeles TimesSheila BensonLos Angeles TimesSheila BensonDirector James Foley and his co-screenwriter Robert Redlin have pulled Thompson's story out of film noir shadows and set it unflinchingly in the desert's orange-red glare.
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineDirector James Foley and cinematographer Mark Plummer deftly conjure the sense of stifling containment that drives these characters to drink or sin, but Robert Redlin's screenplay fails to fully animate their personalities. Patric gives a tremendous, smoldering performance, but Ward fails to convey the mysterious radiance of a convincing femme fatale. Dern rounds out the unappetizing triangle with an unpleasant performance, proving himself a worthy contender in the Dennis Hopper/Harry Dean Stanton creepstakes.
- 70The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyJames Foley's After Dark, My Sweet is a brisk, entertaining contemporary melodrama about the kind of sleazy characters who populated California crime literature 35 years ago. That's no surprise, since the screenplay, adapted by Robert Redlin and Mr. Foley, is based on Jim Thompson's novel, published in 1955.
- 60Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonDern's dirtball performance gives After Dark, My Sweet a desperately needed quality of slugged-out authenticity -- he gives the movie its edge. If anything, though, Foley makes Thompson's killing universe too inviting, too sunny and comfortable. He's missed the essence of Thompson, but all in all, there are worse ways of failing.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAfter Dark, My Sweet is cool and compelling for about 45 minutes, but it has a clinical, hothouse garishness that grows oppressive.