Bait: Critic Reviews

85%

MovieWeb: 1 reviews

26%

RottenTomatoes: 50 reviews

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Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

40

It's just respectable trash, and a dress rehearsal for better things ahead.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jay Carr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

Instead of a tiger in its tank, this vehicle for Foxx has a lot of formula.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

Blending comedy and action is a formula that works when both elements are strong, as in, say, Beverly Hills Cop or 48 Hours. In Bait, this isn't the case.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Matt Weitz Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

If you want a conflicted movie that doesn't know what it is -- or just wish to kill a few hours -- this is for you. Otherwise, keep fishing and cut Bait.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jonathan Foreman New York Post (Top Critic)

Thanks to Antoine Fuqua's ... feverish and self-indulgent MTV-inspired direction, with its desperate overreliance on close-ups, you just can't tell what's going on.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

Fuqua has enveloped the luckless Jamie Foxx ... in a stylishly inept mess of a movie; a film as badly flawed in concept as it is incoherent in execution.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com

34

Well paced, but weak on story, character, and variety, "Bait" is an underwhelming effort from director Anton Fuqua.
Full Review » 3 years ago
David Nusair Reel Film Reviews

50

...a really good 80-minute action movie trapped inside an overblown two-hour suckfest.
Full Review » 9 years ago
James Sanford Kalamazoo Gazette

includes all the key ingredients for what Hollywood passes off as an "urban comedy." ... The finale of "Bait" finds a screaming infant and his drugged mother strapped to a bomb -- funny stuff, huh?
Full Review » 10 years ago
Marty Mapes Movie Habit

50

To sum it up in critic-speak, Bait doesn't stink, but it's not very appetizing.
Full Review » 11 years ago
John J. Puccio DVDTown.com

40

...typifies the kind of action comedies Hollywood seems to produce by the dozens every year.
Full Review » 11 years ago
Mack Bates Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Bait is one wild ride that goes down like iced tea on a hot, late-summer night.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jeff Vice Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Bait has a real vicious streak that even all of Foxx's charm and one-liners can't overcome.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Sean O'Connell Citysearch

A clever premise that's hampered by insufficient direction and an incoherent screenplay.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Max Messier Filmcritic.com

60

A solid action movie.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle

50

Two things pretty much save the movie. The last 40 minutes are well-plotted and paced. And Foxx is enormously likable.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Sherri Winston South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Action fans will find Bait, the latest power-packed, special-effects extravaganza starring Jamie Foxx, irresistible.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jack Garner Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

60

The formula is certainly typical for an urban action flick, but Foxx freshens it with his humorous, ultimately ingratiating portrayal.
Full Review » 12 years ago
John Monaghan Detroit Free Press

Ultimately, it's Foxx's insistence on filling any dead air with wisecracks that spoils Bait.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Marc Fortier Reel.com

63

Fuqua's bumbling aside, Bait manages to somehow entertain, clinging to Foxx's everyman charisma.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Tim Bennett CheckOut.com

80

Bait is a relentless assault on the senses, heart-pounding and manifest.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Maitland McDonagh TV Guide's Movie Guide

40

The cliched story makes precious little sense.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Christopher Kelly Fort Worth Star-Telegram

It piles one ludicrous plot twist atop another and bothers not a whit with logic.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Gary Dowell theMet.net

Unfortunately, Fuqua is more interested in pursuing eye candy than in directing his cast.
Full Review » 12 years ago
E! Online

The film capitalizes on Foxx's comedic strengths and is better off because of it.
Full Review » 12 years ago