41
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineThe film offers some disturbingly misogynist elements as well as a healthy dose of crushing violence. Still, those quibbles aside, this is a fun movie and a must-see for Eastwood fans.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe plot makes almost no sense, and Eastwood directs in his usual toneless fashion. But in this case, the fact that you can’t always tell the intentional comedy from the unintentional isn’t necessarily a drawback.
- 50RogerEbert.comRoger EbertRogerEbert.comRoger EbertWhat The Rookie feels like is an assembly of scenes that were not attached to characters we can care about. The dialogue is wooden, or artificial, or self-consciously cute. Most of the characters are not given even perfunctory development.
- 40The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyThe Rookie is an astonishingly empty movie to come from Mr. Eastwood.
- 40Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonIn The Rookie, Eastwood's new buddy movie about a couple of cops in the auto theft division, Clint teams up with Charlie Sheen, and he couldn't be more naked in his attempts to connect with a younger generation of moviegoers if he laced up a pair of Reebok Pumps.
- 38St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe PollackSt. Louis Post-DispatchJoe PollackEastwood also directed, in a plodding, heavy-handed style that leaves little to the imagination and less to the sense of humor. Every scene is as predictable as the chase that precedes or follows it. [07 Dec 1990, p.3F]
- 30Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThe Rookie is like one of those maddening, waking dreams when you spend the whole night thrashing in bed while tediously repetitive images batter your racing brain. But at least morning comes. This movie, directed by Eastwood, never ends.
- 25The Seattle TimesThe Seattle TimesIn the end, The Rookie winds up looking like a poor relation of Lethal Weapon or Tango & Cash. And that's mighty poor. [07 Dec 1990, p.29]
- 20Time OutTime OutOnly Sheen's hysterically inept handling of the godawful dialogue relieves the boredom.