67
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88USA TodayUSA TodayJason Robards and Norman Wisdom brilliantly perform knockabout stage routines in director William Friedkin's energetically patchwork portrayal of New York burlesque in the 1920s. [23 May 2008, p.10E]
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe Night They Raided Minsky's is being promoted as some sort of laff-a-minit, slapstick extravaganza, but it isn't. It has the courage to try for more than that and just about succeeds. It avoids the phony glamour and romanticism that the movies usually use to smother burlesque (as in "Gypsy") and it really seems to understand this most-American art form.
- This fun film is filled with loads of laughs, atmosphere, and nostalgia.
- 75ColliderColliderIt's a strange and very busy movie, but it has a chaotic kind of charm to it that'll appeal to those who like bold and oftentimes ridiculous comedy movies from this era.
- Unlike "Funny Girl," the screenplay is rich, not in stereotypes (mothers, accents), but in anecdotes, and there is a wonderful confrontation between Jason Robards, as a slick, sleazy burlesque entertainer, and the owner of a restaurant, "a man from principle," over an order of bagels, which are thrown, one by one, to the floor, with rage and elegance.
- 60The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelIt's lightweight and disorganized; it's a shambles, yet a lot of it is charming, and it has a wonderful seedy chorus line--a row of pudgy girls with faces like slipped discs.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleThis 1968 William Friedkin comedy set in 1925 New York will be appreciated by those who enjoy the corny humor and bawdy broads of burlesque.