The Two Jakes Critic Reviews

It's an exquisite short story about a mood, and a time, and a couple of guys who are blind-sided by love.Read the full review

A lovingly assembled cast in a brilliantly detailed production, with special notice to Vilmos Zsigmond's haunting cinematography, which seems somehow to have captured the light as it was, pre-smog. [10 Aug 1990]Read the full review

The Two Jakes is competent and watchable.Read the full review

The Two Jakes turns out to be a surprisingly rich movie - if you're willing to spend 138 minutes on what is essentially a psychological study. [10 Aug 1990]Read the full review

The Two Jakes is an interesting movie and audiences are predisposed to warm up to Nicholson the actor, but they may not be so charitable to Nicholson the director. [10 Aug 1990]Read the full review

Towne doesn't weave all the elements as deftly as before, and his political observations seem secondhand.Read the full review

This oft-delayed sequel proves a jumbled, obtuse yet not entirely unsatisfying follow-up to Chinatown, rightly considered one of the best films of the 1970s.Read the full review

At best, the movie comes across as a competently assembled job, a wistful tribute to its former self. At worst, it's wordy, confusing and - here's an ugly word - boring.Read the full review

It's ended up a weak imitation of the original. [09 Aug 1990]Read the full review