37
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttDirector Vondie Curtis Hall gives this virtually nonstop crime actioner, set against the mean streets of Los Angeles, pleasing noirish touches along with larger-than-life-size characters.
- 63Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe performances are pretty good--with the exception of the nauseatingly sweet H. Hunter Hall (the son of the director) as Junior and a one-note scowl from rapper The Game, who plays Meat--and the screenplay, by Hall and Darin Scott, has some genuinely funny moments.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangWaist Deep packs considerable energy and style into its tale of an ex-con forced back into a life of crime to rescue his kidnapped son. Yet the kinetic direction and occasional sly humor can't disguise the tale's banal brutality or pump much excitement into its routinized pileup of shoot-outs and car chases.
- 60Washington PostTeresa WiltzWashington PostTeresa WiltzNo, it's not a great movie. It is, however, an interesting one.
- 58Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldSeattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam ArnoldBy most of the ways movies are usually judged, pretty much of a mess. The camerawork is jerky and distracting, the dialogue is cliched and the story makes so little sense that the script seems to have been improvised by the actors as they went along.
- 50L.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonL.A. WeeklyChuck WilsonGibson and Good deliver such emotionally honest performances that we wish them a happy ending, no matter how many movie clichés have to be trotted out to get there.
- 50The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensUnapologetically a B movie, its narrative premise whittled down to a mean little nub and placed carefully on the borderline between the wildly implausible and the completely absurd.
- 50Los Angeles TimesGene SeymourLos Angeles TimesGene SeymourAs its plot thickens, Waist Deep gets more outlandish. The whole mess empties out into an overextended car chase through Los Angeles.
- 50New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsBilled as an action thriller, it plays out as an urban-fairy tale version of "Bonnie and Clyde," with an ending suitable for a Harlequin romance.
- 25PremierePremiereTo be fair Deep does have one thing going for it. While the movie never seems to end, and when it does… oh man. Think "Aquaman" meets "Training Day." It proves that sometimes a crappy drama is sometimes just a comedy in disguise.