54
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThe movie is told almost entirely from Nolte's point of view, and he makes an immensely likable character right from the top.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThere's a good dose of reality in this story, even if the script occasionally becomes too preachy. The end sequences especially could have been toned down.
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinOnly late in the game do they make an unforgivable mistake. Blue Chips falls apart when the film makers, figuratively speaking, haul their soapbox right onto the court. Most of the time, Blue Chips is too energetic to sound self-righteous.
- 60Los Angeles TimesPeter RainerLos Angeles TimesPeter RainerAt its best, though, Blue Chips is really about the wiggy, muscle-twitch world of high-pressure college athletics. The movie is best around the edges, when it's jamming and anecdotal and not taking itself so heroically seriously.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe folly of Blue Chips is that the film makes this greased-palm corruption seem an even bigger sin than it is. (It's like a political drama made by someone who is shocked, shocked at the sleaze of campaign financing.)
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA good concept fails to become a good movie in this predictable tale of corruption in college basketball, featuring the ubiquitous superstar and corporate pitchman Shaquille O'Neal.
- 50Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenThe performances of Mary McDonnell as the coach's ex-wife and Alfre Woodard as a ballplayer's ambitious mom raise the dramatic levels to such a degree that you might want to see the movie for their performances alone.
- 40Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonIf it wasn't for some exciting roundball action, Shaquille O'Neal's hulking-dunking presence and a wonderfully guttural performance from coach Nick Nolte, you'd slither off the bench asleep.
- 40Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThe problem with this film's earnest script about corruption in college basketball is that the usually witty Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump) wrote it long before he developed his familiar jivey style. Not even an unsentimental basketball fan like director William Friedkin can wash away all the corn syrup.
- 30Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonThe picture amounts to little more than an uninspired, almost perfunctory exercise in "big game" manipulations.