One of the great American comedy films... It’s just a joy to watch even forty three years on. John Belushi was never better as the lead. He’s funny just standing there.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 24, 2023

The Blues Brothers is the year's best film to date; one of the, all-time great comedies; the best movie ever made in Chicago. All are true, and, boy, is that ever a surprise.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 21, 2020

Despite the temporary lift that the old pros give the picture, it is difficult for the non-cultist to feel anything but dismay, again, that so much has been squandered to produce so little that is truly artful or genuinely entertaining.

| Dec 21, 2020

As spectacular as the chases are, Blues Brothers works because of Aykroyd and Belushi, who play off each other with nearly flawless timing and sustain it throughout the movie's two hours and 10 minutes.

| Dec 21, 2020

With a simple narrative based around the- brothers trying to put together a band and raising money for the orphanage that moulded them with numerous complications along the way there are plenty of chances for viewers to be entertained.

| Dec 21, 2020

Landis' staging and camera blocking aren't always up to the task, but the performers are so electrifying, it doesn't much matter.

| Dec 21, 2020

The Blues Brothers really is the sort of enterprise that makes, you wonder what the world is coming to.

| Dec 21, 2020

Elsewhere flat characterisation and flimsy subplots -- who ever dreamed up those Nazis? -- numb the brain and add up to an expense of spirit in a waste of time, talent and money.

| Dec 21, 2020

Between [musical] numbers there are a number of good laughs, but most of the comedy falls flat through constant over-statement. The 20-car prang where two might do philosophy, spills through the whole film.

| Dec 21, 2020

The script, written by Aykroyd and director John Landis, is full of opportunities for comedy, few of them realized.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 19, 2020

The Blues Brothers contains enough energy for 10 movies. Much of it is misdirected, but enough remains to please less demanding movie patrons.

| Dec 18, 2020

Because there is no development in Jake and Elwood in the course of this overly long movie, Landis falls back on chases and crashes with the enthusiasm of a three-year-old kicking his blocks over.

| Dec 18, 2020

The film also has stunning car chases, choreographed like the dancing in a musical, as the Blues Brothers are pursued throughout Chicago, at one point even tearing through a shopping mall.

| Dec 18, 2020

There is no more material sustaining The Blues Brothers"than one would find in a silent comedy short running 10 or 20 minutes.

| Dec 18, 2015

I have never been quite sure why this $30 million comedy made by John Landis in 1980 became such a cult.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 24, 2009

Formless, chaotic and lazy, and quite brilliant because of it.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2009

The mere spectacle of Elwood and Jake in their shades isn't quite as giggle-inducing as it presumably was back in 1980, but the stunts are still awe-inspiring, and there's plenty of laughs. They really were thinking big.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2009

There's no indication that Landis knows what the words "pace" or "mood" mean. He operates on one track.

| Jul 24, 2009

A demolition symphony that works with the cold efficiency of a Moog synthesizer gone sadistic.

| Aug 20, 2008

Given all the chaos, director and, with Aykroyd, cowriter, John Landis manages to keep things reasonably controlled and in a straight line.

| Apr 1, 2008