60
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe film is an inflammatory morality play shot through with rage and despair.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThere is a real terror in the faces of these kids as they realize that people have died, that guns kill, that your life can be ruined, or over, in an instant.
- 75Boston GlobeBoston GlobeJuice is a film about choices. The right ones. The tragically wrong ones. There will be comparisons to Matty Rich's brilliant "Straight Out of Brooklyn," but Dickerson's effort is more richly textured, more grounded in an ordinary kid's point of view. And Dickerson's dogged determination to film from that perspective has resulted in a film rich in the right lingo, the right clothes, the right attitudes. [17 Jan 1992, p.67]
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinThe film winds up taking a clear anticrime stance, and Mr. Epps ably conveys Q's trepidation about his friends' behavior. But Juice also revels in the flash, irreverence and tough-guy posturing to which the film's violence can ultimately be traced.
- 67Austin ChronicleAustin ChronicleDickerson's story of street kids at risk breaks no new ground. It is better than most, but not by much. Sure looks good, though.
- 63USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkDickerson's direction seems more assured as Juice progresses, but by then, the film has become less a dilemma movie than a melodramatically conventional revenge piece. [17 Jan 1992, p.4D]
- 60Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranThough it is a vivid, promising piece of work from first-time director Ernest R. Dickerson, it also shows how difficult it's becoming to deal with this material in any kind of fresh manner.
- 50Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonDickerson's point in this passable but rather routine picture is that no one is exempt from the spidery grip of frustrations brought on by poverty and a life of depressed opportunities; that, given these circumstances, anyone can pick up a gun as the only answer to his problems.
- 50Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrIt's a perfectly competent film, but the title quantity is the one thing this dry and earnest movie hasn't got.