41
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaA wickedly funny, Naked Gun-style parody that conflates old-style private-eye pics with Shaft and, yes, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
- 60Film ThreatFilm ThreatWriter/director John Kesselman serves up a stylin' live-action spoof that irreverently milks stereotypes and bravely pokes fun at that which is usually sacrosanct.
- 60TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghYou don't have to be Jewish to love Jonathan Kesselman's uneven, profane and occasionally flat-out hilarious parody of vintage blaxploitation pictures, but it helps.
- 50VarietyDavid RooneyVarietyDavid RooneyAlthough amusing as often as not, the material remains more comedy-sketch fodder than a fully developed feature.
- 50New York PostMegan LehmannNew York PostMegan LehmannA hit-and-miss affair.
- 40The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinUltimately more interested in exploiting clichés than subverting or commenting on them, and Coyote and Dunn's grotesque caricatures are embarrassing.
- 40Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanThe result is explicit, if less than hilarious. The Hebrew Hammer lacks the edge of Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song," although as anti-seasonal fare, it would make a suitably unbearable double bill with Terry Zwigoff's "Bad Santa."
- 40L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyBut the corker-to-groaner ratio heavily favors the latter as the bagel-and-dreidel jokes begin to lose their spark, as does the story
- 40The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensWould have worked brilliantly as a five-minute late-night comedy sketch, flogs its premise for nearly an hour and a half, generating too few laughs to justify the enterprise.
- 30Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasUnfunny rather than outrageous as intended.