88 MinutesMovie Reviews

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Oh No!
Avg. Critic Score: 17 out of 100 Overwhelming dislike Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    If you're like me and think that any Pacino movie is sort of worth seeing, so long as he never says, "Hoo-ha," then 88 Minutes won't be a total disappointment. Read full review

  • 38
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Steven Rea

    88 Minutes proves itself to be a maddeningly mediocre, ineptly manipulative "real-time" thriller. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    Although it's often laugh-out-loud laughably bad, 88 Minutes is mostly just a slog. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    Not merely Pacino's over-mannered, near-histrionic performance, but the movie itself could be characterized as busy, busy, busy. It's so full of plot twists and revelations and exploding sports cars that its very perkiness comes to seem comic. Read full review

  • 25
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    I've seen Pacino over the edge. This is not it. He looks pooped and pickled. Maybe being the only thing standing between a megaplex opening and a trip straight to the $4.99 bin at Target wiped him out. Read full review

  • 25
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    I'm guessing it's the pressure of an idiot script by Gary Scott Thompson and understandably clueless direction from Jon Avnet that forces Pacino to ham it up so vigorously that you want to garnish him with cloves and a slice of pineapple. Read full review

  • 25
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    This may be the most preposterous movie of the year. It is certainly the most ridiculous movie starring an Oscar-winning actor. Read full review

  • 20
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    This ridiculous thriller would be hard-pressed to last much longer than its title in theaters before doing time on DVD, as is already the case in many overseas territories. Read full review

  • 10
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Ludicrous in the extreme, the picture easily snatches from "Revolution" the prize as Al Pacino's career worst. Read full review

  • 0
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    A stinker, the more so for the thespian excesses of the accomplished cast. Read full review

View more reviews for 88 Minutes on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Serial killer thriller runs out of time, momentum.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this dark thriller isn't meant for kids. It focuses on a cat-and-mouse game between a serial killer and the doctor responsible for sending him to death row: The contest is irrational on both sides, leading to aggression and murder. Violent imagery includes women being tortured: The killer likes to leave them hanging upside down in their underwear, blood dripping from deep cuts. Weapons include guns and scalpels. Female characters show lots of skin; at one point, a naked woman appears in in the hero's apartment (nothing explicit is shown). Language includes "f--k" and other profanity. Characters drink, get drunk, and talk about drinking.
  • Families can talk about what this movie has in common with other stalker/serial killer movies. What "standards" of the genre does it stick to? What twists does it introduce? Are they believable? Why is Hollywood so fascinated with serial killers? Is there a message in these murderers' madness?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Serial killer brutalizes his victims; the hero sleeps with strangers and drinks heavily; students obsess about their teacher. No good characters or role models to be found.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Serial killings in which women are hung upside down from the ceiling and brutalized. Scenes show a victim in her underwear, blood dripping down her neck and splattered on her face; a couple of scenes show a murder in process (scalpel and wheel-cutter are used, and they blood they draw is shown). A couple of audio recordings and one video recording feature women/girls screaming in terror. Classroom discussions of murder and serial killers. Bomb threat at school empties the buildings and creates havoc on campus. A student screams and shows up with bloody nose and scraped face. A car explodes; Gramm is nearly hit by a careening fire truck. Kim and Gramm both carry guns; they're shot at, and Gramm fires back. Gramm shoots his gun near a student's head to scare him. A woman is shot in her chest (bloody), then falls from great height and lands with a thud; blood pools under her head on the ground. Kim describes being "beaten black and blue" by her ex-husband.
  • sex false3 Sex: Girl shown in bra, panties, and an open robe. Women's corpses wear bras and panties. A naked woman stretches her leg up to her head -- viewers see non-explicit profile from middle distance, emulating Pacino's character's point of view (she's was his one-night stand). Some women briefly show cleavage, including Kim when she tries to seduce Gramm in his apartment. Gramm insists that he doesn't sleep with his students or patients, but the film doesn't confirm this. Shelly, an openly gay character, appears in flashback kissing a woman; no nudity, but the film suggests that she has sex with her. Cops discuss semen in a murder victim's vaginal cavity.
  • language false3 Language: Profanity includes "f--k" (once), "damn," "bitch," "s--t," and "hell." A man holds up two fingers at the doctor in anger.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Mac laptop, Porsche, Nokia phone, MSNBC.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: A couple of bar scenes show people drinking beer and liquor. Gramm has a prominent wine collection.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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0

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