Critic Reviews
Play It To the Bone (1999) Rank 2 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (127) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
eFilmCritic.com (Scott Weinberg)
Man, Ron Shelton sure loves sports, doesn't he? ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at eFilmCritic.com (Scott Weinberg)
The Boston Phoenix
Portland Oregonian (Shawn Levy)
The film is nothing much to look at and has trouble swallowing its own clichs and implausibilities. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Portland Oregonian (Shawn Levy)
Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)
A boxing film with no conflictual punch. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)
DigitalVD.de (Carsten Scheibe)
Apollo Guide (Brian Webster)
Professional boxing fascinates some people and disgusts others, so it’s no surprise that Play it to the Bone is likely to irritate or offend many, while being a source of satisfying entertainment for others. Unfortunately, its strengths are not nearly ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Apollo Guide (Brian Webster)
Box Office Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine
Baltimore Sun (Chris Kaltenbach)
Benefits from an amiable chemistry between Harrelson and Banderas, and Davidovich always makes a good tough-as-nails dame with more smarts than any man will give her credit for. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Baltimore Sun (Chris Kaltenbach)
Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
Even when his work is at its most contrived, which it certainly is here, writer-director Ron Shelton is the best purveyor of jock humor around. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
TV Guide (Steve Simels)
Vince and Cesar have been written to evoke equal audience sympathy, so there's no suspense whatsover in the outcome of their climactic match-up, the brutal realism of Shelton's staging notwithstanding. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at TV Guide (Steve Simels)
Movie Ram-blings
Play it to the Bone is a day in the life of two washed out boxers (and friends) who get a chance at a second fifteen minutes of fame---by fighting each other.
The boxers in question are Vince Boudreau (Woody Harrelson) and Cesar Dominguez (Antonio ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Movie Ram-blings
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
A mediocre sports movie crossed with a bad road picture. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Hollywood Report Card (Ross Anthony)
There is little of interest in the first third of
this film beyond pretentiously quirky characters
spewing meant-to-be-cute retorts at cliché
beats, devoid of punch.
Then comes Antonio ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Hollywood Report Card (Ross Anthony)
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Merely a double dose of the old "Rocky" formula, which even Stallone seems to realize has become hopelessly passe. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Globe and Mail (--)
Palo Alto Weekly (Leonard Schwarz)
filmcritic.com (Aileo Weinmann)
I didn’t watch Play It to the Bone – I sat through it. If you’ve ever seen a boxing match where you wish the guy who was knocked down didn’t get up, just so it would be over, you know what I’m talking about. The overall ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at filmcritic.com (Aileo Weinmann)
Palo Alto Online (Leonard Schwarz)
Detroit News (Susan Stark)
SPLICEDwire (Rob Blackwelder)
Matinee Magazine (Chuck Rudolph)
You go in hoping for a knockout, and all you get is a draw. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Matinee Magazine (Chuck Rudolph)
IMDB.com
The story starts when the fighters in the under card (that's the warmup event) for the big Mike Tyson title fight in Las Vegas become unavailable. One of these secondstring fighters has fried his brains on drugs, and the other has died in a car accident. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at IMDB.com
GamePro.com (Chuck Jones)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
With The Hurricane currently playing in theaters, Play It to the Bone becomes the second boxing-related film in less than a month to unspool in multiplex auditoriums. Neither movie is really about ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Film.com (Tom Keogh)
This is still Ron Shelton in good -- not great, but good -- form here, and the rewards are plentiful. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Film.com (Tom Keogh)
Empire Magazine (--)
Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
A punch-drunk lightweight. Inside the ring, it lands some forceful punches. Outside the ring, it stumbles around, swinging wildly at nothing, until it collapses. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Steven Rea)
Boston Globe (Jay Carr)
Isn't going to be a ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Boston Globe (Jay Carr)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
The movie doesn't know how odd it seems to cut from the bloodshed in the ring to the dialogue of the supporting players, who still think they're in a comedy. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)
Ron Shelton's boxing pic is long on road work but strictly a flyweight. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)
New York Post (Lou Lumenick)
Xiibaro Productions (David Perry)
Dark Horizons (Garth Franklin)
This low-budget road...I wouldn't use the term comedy, is a disappointing but on occasion half-decent flick about boxing. The plot is paper thin, the dialogue pathetic, but the actors help lift a very mundane script into a vaguely watchable flick. ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Dark Horizons (Garth Franklin)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
Before Ron Shelton became Hollywood's best writer-director of sports-oriented features --Bull Durham,White Men Can't JumpandTin Cup-- he learned about athletics as a Rochester Red Wings infielder. I'm sure he was embarrassed when an ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (Jack Garner)
Reel.com
The flick includes a host of stupid cameos by haggard-looking Kevin Costner, James Woods, Rod Stewart, and Wesley Snipes among many. Lucy Liu (of Ally McBeal fame) injects the film with momentary vitality as the hitchhiking Lia, whose luckiest break ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Reel.com
The UK Critic (Ian Waldron-Mantgani)
Cinema Releases - MONTH DAY, YEAR ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at The UK Critic (Ian Waldron-Mantgani)
FilmHead.com (Matt Heffernan)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
"Play It to the Bone" ends with a long, gruesome, brutal, bloody prizefight scene, which would be right at home in another movie, but is a big miscalculation here, because it is between ...read the complete Play It To the Bone movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
from $3.65 (12 sellers)
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