100 Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails. Read full review
91 Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman Bad Lieutenant doesn't go where you expect, but it has a stubborn, trippy logic. Read full review
88 Boston Globe | Wesley Morris Frankly, the story isn’t remotely as interesting as Cage. Nothing is. In Ferrara’s movie, Keitel emptied himself out. But there’s a hellion’s joy in Cage’s cop. Read full review
80 Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern The sparkle is what's been missing in the star's (Cage) recent performances. What's not to love in a movie that transmutes Terence's moral squalor, and the squalid state of post-Katrina New Orleans, into darkly comic gold? Read full review