Critic Reviews
72
Metascore
Generally Favorable
positive
20(74%)
mixed
7(26%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 27 Critic Reviews
100
That it manages to end a note that’s both deeply sad and sardonic only further makes its case as one of the finest forgotten films of its time, and one of the best, period.
100
The three lead actors all manage to be terrific without showing off—Leigh, in the course of an exquisite performance, does one of the best impersonations of a country southern accent I've ever heard—and the use of Miami locations is a consistent delight. The late Willeford wrote four Hoke Moseley novels, and this crisp, funny, grisly, and perfectly balanced adaptation makes me yearn for Armitage to film a few more of them.
100
MIAMI BLUES gleefully presides over the happy marriage of two solid but usually separate traditions in U.S. movies: film noir, with its emphasis on the sleazy and the powerless, and screwball comedy, with its celebration of the romantically eccentric. As darkly unpredictable as The Third Man and as bouncingly comic as Pretty Woman, Miami Blues deserves all the rave reviews it's going to get and all the tons of money it's going to make. [20 Apr 1990]
91
Not enough can be said about how good Jennifer Jason Leigh is in this movie.
90
Even the breeziest Miami Blues scene can suddenly turn chilling.
88
A brilliant comeback by a filmmaker, George Armitage, who never should have been away.
88
Tight, hilarious and - in its final shots - strangely moving, "Miami Blues" is a marvelously invigorating piece of work. [20 Apr 1990, p.3]
80
For all its commonplace ingredients, Miami Blues is uncommonly entertaining, thanks in large part to Ward, Baldwin and Leigh, who give gutty, energetic performances
80
The performance is a toure de force: Baldwin manages to make Junior very funny without sacrificing the character's scary, unpredictable edge. Quirkiness, not square-jawed heroism, seems to bring out the best in Baldwin,confirming Jonathan Demme's observation that "he's not a victim of his handsomeness." [23 Apr 1990, p.66]
75
So much love is devoted to creating the wacko loonies in the cast that we're left with a set of personality profiles, not characters.
