39
Metascore
15 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Washington PostWashington PostYou'll cheer, you'll laugh, you'll bite your nails and feel your heart pounding right up there under your crewcut.
- 63Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonAn Innocent Man isn't an inspired piece of filmmaking, but it is tightly focused and efficient, and on its own modest terms it is effective.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineThe plot is almost as old as Hollywood itself, yet the film's ironic, cynical tone gives the material a new spin under the direction of veteran Peter Yates. The script is savvy about the power structures both inside and outside the prison gates, and the fine cast makes the most of the well-crafted dialog and sharply drawn characters.
- 50Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThis 1989 movie looks much of the time like an old idea that's been too enthusiastically colorized. The prison sequences work best, and they seem almost like a completely separate film.
- 40EmpireAngie ErrigoEmpireAngie ErrigoOutdated and predictable revenge saga.
- 38Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAn Innocent Man has all the elements to put us through an emotional wringer, but the movie never works up any enthusiasm for them. It's the most relaxed crime movie of the year.
- 30The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinMore than enough sadism to go around. But the net effect is less excitement than overkill. The screenplay, by Larry Brothers, has a tendency to forget old plot elements as it picks up new ones.
- 30Los Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonLos Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonThis cautionary thriller about an unjustly imprisoned airline mechanic has a chance to be a canny blend of gutsy melodrama and J'Accuse against the prison system. But, by the end, it has gone as slick and corrupt as the crafty old con (F. Murray Abraham) who advises Tom Selleck's framed Jimmie Rainwood on jail survival. On a fundamental moral level, An Innocent Man is guilty as hell.
- 30Time OutTime OutWith the exception of Abraham's world-weary performance, and a couple of nicely nasty cameos from David Rasche and Richard Young as the crooked cops, this is a disposable affair. Yates' ham-fisted direction cranks the film up into melodramatic hyperbole, but Selleck is the real villan, portraying his transformation from wide-eyed innocent to hardened man of the world by changing from clean-shaven mop top to stubbly slicked-back, with reflecting shades to boot. Laughable.