The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
Summer hasn't officially arrived yet, but it's unlikely to offer a big-budget commercial movie as thoroughly entertaining as this stylish real-life cartoon.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
rotten:
This has an appealing two-dimensional comic-book look, but lacks the vision to go with it, not to mention an interesting hero or a feeling for action.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
18 Apr 2007
rotten:
Though it looks ravishing, Warren Beatty's longtime pet project is a curiously remote, uninvolving film.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
23 Apr 2009
fresh:
Beatty and his team of collaborators have heightened the vibrantly tawdry urban night world of Chester Gould's classic comic strip.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Jul 2010
rotten:
The film moves at a chug when it should put the pedal to the floor.