The Hard Word: Critic Reviews

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

40%

RottenTomatoes: 90 reviews

« previous
1
2
3
...
next »
«
»

Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

34

An Australian crime caper that's one part Sexy Beast, one part The Full Monty, and three parts very flat soda.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Elvis Mitchell New York Times (Top Critic)

70

The picture has a spiky, efficient hilarity, and the director uses his actors well.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

Full Review » 9 years ago
Desson Thomson Washington Post (Top Critic)

Aside from the obviously Australian flavor to everything -- which can be entertaining at times -- there's no X factor to justify the whole exercise.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Stephen Hunter Washington Post (Top Critic)

A wannabe gritty Australian crime drama.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Ty Burr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

50

The Hard Word strains to be light on its feet but piles too much on its plate: characters come and go, changing personality at the director's whim, and you're never quite sure who's getting the shaft.
Full Review » 9 years ago
David Ng Village Voice (Top Critic)

Convoluted yet simple-minded, the movie frequently equates verbosity with wit, exhausting itself long before the racetrack robbery climax.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Jack Mathews New York Daily News (Top Critic)

50

The gore is intended as Tarantino-style black comedy, but instead, it's just weirdly grotesque.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

Full Review » 9 years ago
Tom Maurstad Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

67

Just when you think you've got it all figured out, there's another disorienting jolt.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Michael Booth Denver Post (Top Critic)

75

The movie-jaded will dismiss The Hard Word as just another slick heist flick with a band of burglar buddies. Too bad for their cynical souls. They'll be missing a grand (theft) time.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

63

This movie could obviously go on fooling us forever, but we are good sports only up to a point, and then our attention drifts.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Mark Caro Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

50

The Hard Word never steals our hearts, though it does kill time.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

63

The film has an appeal for lovers of the genre. Little else in this unpredictable thriller by first-time director Scott Roberts requires immediate attention.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

75

'Amiable' is an odd way to describe a crime drama that contains wall-spattering amounts of bloodshed, but it fits The Hard Word.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

34

A Tarantino-esque mishmash of tough crime cliches spit out in Aussie accents.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Bill Muller Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

60

It is at most a middling effort.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Rex Reed New York Observer (Top Critic)

It's the kind of predictable programmer that used to fill the bottom half of double bills, but it's worth the effort to catch Ms. Griffiths.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Andrew Sarris New York Observer (Top Critic)

The entire cast perform ably, but Mr. Pearce and Ms. Griffiths ... are something special in their native habitat.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Megan Lehmann New York Post (Top Critic)

63

A raft of impressive performances -- and a dose of lunatic unpredictability -- float this verbose debut from writer-director Scott Roberts.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

80

Roberts stuffs the film with clever twists that keep us one step behind the plot, which is where you want to be in a heist picture.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Erin Free Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

Roberts always grounds the film with the consistency of his characters and manages to punctuate proceedings with an 'Am I really seeing that?' moment about every 10 minutes.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Dennis Schwartz Ozus' World Movie Reviews

42

Undemanding derivative caper film.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Empire Magazine

60

Full Review » 5 years ago
Derek Adams Time Out

Full Review » 6 years ago