21
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 40Washington PostGary ArnoldWashington PostGary ArnoldSome of the jokes are so raucously or goofily low-minded that you may laugh out of a kind of shocked weakness.
- 40The Observer (UK)The Observer (UK)Aldrich is at his most crudely anarchic and macho celebrating the saintly community service and childish off-duty antics of Los Angeles's hard-nosed uniformed cops, starring Charles Durning, Perry King et al. [25 Feb 2007, p.6]
- 37Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumTo my mind, this is one of Robert Aldrich’s worst films, but clearly not everyone agrees.
- 30NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid Ansen[Aldrich's] aiming so low in The Choirboys that he's even lost his technical competence; the movie's not just fetid, it's inept. [02 Jan 1978, p.59]
- The film features a great cast and is adapted from a funny and moving book by Joseph Wambaugh, but the result is an abysmal, disjointed mess.
- 20Time OutTime OutThe book's humour was the ribald and understandable explosion of a safety valve; here it is merely an offensive display of stereotyping, sexism and patronising insincerity. A travestied misrepresentation and a notably complete failure.
- 20EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanA disjointed mish-M.A.S.H. of cliched comedy and misplaced observational wit.
- 10The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyThe movie, which Mr. Aldrich directed from a screenplay by Christopher Knopf, is cheap and nasty without having any redeeming vulgarity and absolutely no conviction of truth.