Better than its ads would lead you to believe, but it’s a vague and mostly uninvolving film.

| Original Score: C | Sep 2, 2022

What the film communicates perhaps above all is Linklater's deep belief in the resiliency and ingenuity of human beings, his confidence in their ability to resist, by whatever means at their disposal, unfair and unjust conditions.

| Feb 16, 2021

As portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in his first fully satisfying screen performance, Willis Newton regards his three younger brothers and their associates as social rectifiers who take money only from the real thieves: bankers and their directors.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 9, 2018

| Original Score: B- | Sep 7, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 20, 2008

A handsome production that nicely evokes the 1920s and a likeable cast headed by McConaughey can't compensate for a Western-gangster film that's too diffuse and lacks a discernibel POV to be dramatically engaging.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 23, 2006

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 6, 2005

Like the Newtons themselves, the film never goes for the kill.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 27, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | May 14, 2004

Linklater seems to understand the root of McConaughey's appeal stems from his wild side. Casting McConaughey as someone noble and high-minded... is like hiring Madonna to play a housewife.

| Jul 3, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | May 14, 2003

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 19, 2002

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 8, 2002

There's little nuance in the straightforward, chronological way the tale is told--it's hard to point to a scene that's worth discussing after you've left the theatre.

| Sep 9, 2002

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 12, 2002

Linklater's genuine regard for his characters and fidelity to his setting are his strongest directorial traits.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 5, 2002

We're hanging out with them more than we're being told a story. There are a lot of conversations about the profession of bank robbery -- which, as a topic for conversation, is not a whole lot more interesting than double-entry bookkeeping.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 1, 2000