69
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyTaking Mr. Bright's excellent screenplay, Ms. Davis, whose background is in music videos, has made a remarkably rich melodrama with a strong narrative line and vivid characters. There's no waste space in this movie. Every second of its 97 minutes counts.
- 80Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonDavis's sensibility is much more fully developed, more authentic and much less self-consciously referential than the Coens' was at the same stage. She's not just playing around with film noir, or paying homage to it -- she's using it for a new kind of edgy, grunge realism; using it to look at sex and love and murder; using it for real.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovTamra Davis' directorial debut is a noir-ish, adrenaline-fueled tale of a love on the border between teen angst and homicide, and it packs a mean, unrelenting punch.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversIn Guncrazy, Davis delivers pow entertainment with a twist: It matters.
- 75Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrGuncrazy, a film more about limits than about bullets, is a pretty compelling little pistols 'n' potency outing, and Barrymore's sprung teen is what makes it almost mandatory viewing. In her chopped blond hair, creamy skin, strong chin and perfectly curved jawline, she's Lolita with the safety catch off. [05 Feb 1993, p.30]
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleThough the film makers would probably like us to regard Guncrazy as a commentary on alienation in the '90s, in the end the picture isn't about much more than its own style. But this commitment to style and the movie's peculiar emotional honesty make it more than a self-conscious genre piece. [05 Feb 1993, p.D1]
- 70Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranWith moments of odd, dark humor sprinkled among the violence, this traditional study of psycho kittens in love breaks just enough new ground to be an impressive piece of work.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineMarketing-minded folks may be quick to position Guncrazy as a 90s take on Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and its title is certainly meant to evoke Joseph H. Lewis's 1949 classic Gun Crazy. But this film is by no means as brash, startling, or iconoclastic as either. Its quieter character-study nature has more in common with They Live by Night (1949), its remake Thieves Like us (1974), and Badlands (1973). Compared to these three landmarks, Guncrazy comes up lacking in lyricism and resonance, but it does give ample pleasures thanks to a subtly self-aware sense of humor and fine performances by itstwo leads.
- 60Time Out LondonTrevor JohnstonTime Out LondonTrevor JohnstonInspired by They Live by Night and the original Gun Crazy, this is a love-on-the-run yarn, with the incendiary Barrymore immensely sympathetic as the promiscuous, sexually mistreated teen who goes on the lam with former prison pen-pal LeGross. Although it doesn't seek to excuse their wrongdoing, the film stands out for its convincing depiction of the up-against-it white-trash mentality and the overriding demands of youthful desire.
- 50VarietyTodd McCarthyVarietyTodd McCarthyA shoot-'em-up exploitationer with a few interesting ideas floating around in it, Guncrazy lacks the exhilaration of a first-class lovers-on-the-run crime drama. After a promising beginning, competently made indie effort settles into a surprisingly somber mood that suppresses the possibilities latent in the story and actors.