37
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 63Miami HeraldMiami HeraldPryor and director Walter Hill do a competent job collaborating on comic pace in Brewster's Millions. But the screenplay by Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris isn't audacious enough to twist the ending and let Pryor's character grow. Brewster's Millions is a pleasant summer laugh, but it's not comedy that bites.
- 60EmpireWilliam ThomasEmpireWilliam ThomasA satisfying come-down by the director, who stays safely within, rather than pushes against comedy conventions.
- 60Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyIt's an amusing vehicle for Pryor and Candy, amiable partners wallowing in monetary ecstasy. [24 May 1985, p.25]
- 50Chicago TribuneGene SiskelChicago TribuneGene SiskelBrewster's Millions is a PG film, and the humor is sanitized. Pryor grins, Candy gurgles and we sit there stone-faced noticing all the holes in the plot. Once Pryor figures out a clever way to spend money by using rare stamps on letters, why doesn't he keep on doing it? Yes, that might make for a short movie, but given the way Brewster's Millions turned out, it would be no great loss. [22 May 1985, p.3]
- 40TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineNormally, this situation comedy would provide its own built-in laughs, but here the situations are dominated by Pryor's forced, manic behavior, which removes him from empathy and offers the subservient story nothing more than casual interest.
- 40Time OutTime OutThe ideas here aren't nearly up to the scratch that writers Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris established in Trading Places.
- 40Los Angeles TimesSheila BensonLos Angeles TimesSheila BensonBrewster's Millions isn't bad so much as flat. And flat comedy has about the appeal of flat champagne.
- 30The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinThe film does nothing to accommodate Mr. Pryor's singular comic talents...It keeps the crazy premise but does away with such essential ingredients as funny material and antic timing.
- 20The DissolveScott TobiasThe DissolveScott TobiasDim, compromised, and dead on arrival.