62
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonFamed script doctor Tom Mankiewicz, in his directorial debut, creates the required breakneck car chases, stunt tumbles, major crowd scenes and SWAT gunfire around Aykroyd and Hanks. We're essentially watching 48 Hours or Beverly Hills Cop, only with different funny people. Plus the script is a gold mine of one-liners penned by Aykroyd, Mankiewicz and ex-Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt is great for an hour, good for about 25 minutes and then heads doggedly for the Standard 1980s High Tech Hollywood Ending, which means an expensive chase scene and a shootout.
- 75Slant MagazineSlant MagazineDragnet winks at its source material often, but besides a committed lead performance by Dan Aykroyd and the return of Webb’s partner, Harry Morgan, little remains of the original show. This ain’t your grandmother’s Dragnet; it’s your deranged drunk uncle’s Dragnet.
- 70Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyThere's enjoyable chemistry between the two, but not the sort that sequels are made on. Aykroyd's straight man gets most of the laughs with his hilarious variation on the late Jack Webb's hard-bitten dialogue, with Hanks playing less often off the priggish, ever-positive Friday.
- 60EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanFun spoof but it's been surpassed in the TV-series film spoof since then.
- 60The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyMr. Aykroyd and Mr. Hanks play well together, but the funniest performance in the film is that of Dabney Coleman, as the smut king (who lisps). Somewhat less diverting are the car chases and the time out necessary to explain the throwaway story.
- 60The DissolveNathan RabinThe DissolveNathan RabinDragnet has its share of sharp gags and memorable lines, but for the most part, it’s entertaining but forgettable, a fun romp that assuredly hits all the expected mismatched buddy-cop-movie beats and serves up the subgenre’s clichés straight, rather than subverting or lampooning them.
- 60Time OutTime OutEntertaining enough, but a pity they didn't draft in more of the Eisenhower context.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineDirector Tom Mankiewicz brings little innovation and no surprises to Dragnet. It simply doesn't come off, and the viewer will be left with an empty feeling, a vacuous notion that somehow the laugh scenes slipped by unnoticed. They were never really there.