72
Metascore
27 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasNot enough can be said about how good Jennifer Jason Leigh is in this movie.
- 90The DissolveNoel MurrayThe DissolveNoel MurrayEven the breeziest Miami Blues scene can suddenly turn chilling.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSo much love is devoted to creating the wacko loonies in the cast that we're left with a set of personality profiles, not characters.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversThis thriller is so gritty it could chafe your eyeballs...Miami Blues is high on its own malevolence.
- 60EmpireAngie ErrigoEmpireAngie ErrigoThis is brutal, gory, at times downright sickening stuff, and somewhat twisted types are likely to laugh like a drain.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineThe plot is minimal, and no attempt is made to explain the psychology of the sociopath who murders casually and yet yearns for the security of middle-class life. But the movie's details are fascinating and often surprising.
- 50Time OutTime OutWard is physically fine for Hoke, Baldwin a wired Junior, and best of all is Leigh's hooker, but it doesn't quite translate to the screen. Willeford didn't write genre, and the film washes about a bit finding a tone.
- 50Los Angeles TimesPeter RainerLos Angeles TimesPeter RainerWhat makes Miami Blues unsettling, in spite of itself, is the sense that the garish ultra-violence we're witnessing is just a species of high jinks. Armitage, adapting Charles Willeford's smart, nasty 1984 novel, doesn't provide the kind of moral dimension that might make Junior's sprees cumulatively frightening. The film careens along as a blithely funky shoot-'em-up. It might have been made by a sociopathic Chuck Jones.
- 42Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanWhat really sinks the movie, though, is Alec Baldwin’s strenuously awful performance.