Lawrence Toppman

Lawrence Toppman
Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications: Charlotte Observer, Knight Ridder News Service
Critics' Group: Southeastern Film Critics Association

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
57% Road Trip (2000) In the summer of 2000, are we really still supposed to be laughing at pimps and hos? - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
70% American Psycho (2000) Psycho remains a hollow portrait of a hollow man. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
95% The Straight Story (1999) The veteran stuntman/actor dominates the picture without trying. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
80% Office Space (1999) Lazy, loosely connected. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
14% Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2 (2000) Sometimes Berlinger and Beebe can't settle on a tone. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
66% Boiler Room (2000) What's supposed to look like soul baring comes off as a tantrum. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
22% Lucky Numbers (2000) A landfill made up of remnants from other movies, cobbled together by writer Adam Resnick. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
83% Notting Hill (1999) Cunningly crafted! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
21% The General's Daughter (1999) The General's Daughter is a blandly acted, dully written, gratuitously grisly, coincidence-filled potboiler that takes the obvious road whenever it has a choice. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
46% Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) Ghoulishly funny! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
87% American Beauty (1999) Despite the acting, which ranges mostly from good to terrific, Mendes is the real discovery here. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
13% Jawbreaker (1999) If it's a hit, it'll prove teens don't demand a plot that makes sense, characters that seem real or any other movie virtue, except for sexy girls with revealing outfits and bad attitudes. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
22% Stigmata (1999) Someone must take the blame for repeated lapses in continuity and common sense. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
20% The Beach (2000) If you scrutinize the story, holes appear. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
41% The Replacements (2000) Seems longer than a rainy Super Bowl. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
52% Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) To the short list of movie sequels better than the originals, we can add another name: Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
73% Next Stop Wonderland (1998) Gelfant is impeccable! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
83% Magnolia (1999) How did Paul Thomas Anderson attain the pinnacle of self-indulgence so quickly? - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
83% The Hurricane (1999) Cinematographer Roger Deakins and editor Stephen Rivkin help Jewison get the harsh feel he wants much of the time. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
66% Small Time Crooks (2000) Hardly unique. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
48% Where the Money Is (2000) Even the blue-eyed old pro, one of the last actors of his generation still getting leading roles - and the only one with romantic allure at 75 -- can't charm us into buying the whole package. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
27% Hollow Man (2000) The top-billed Shue may be one of our smartest actresses -- but she doesn't depict intelligence well onscreen. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
62% Return to Me (2000) David Duchovny is not well-matched with Minnie Driver. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
26% The Story of Us (1999) You can get all of this free on television any week, so why pay for it? - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
3% Bless the Child (2000) Many special effects are obvious frauds: rubbery rats with unconvincingly red eyes, flying monkeys that make you nostalgic for The Wizard of Oz. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
79% Fight Club (1999) Visually surrealistic, acted with integrity. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
61% The Mummy (1999) The combination of makeup and computer graphics make Imhotep an awesome enemy! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
51% Titan A.E. (2000) If you can stand the insipid story, you might enjoy the bright, sometimes inventive visual effects. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
15% Random Hearts (1999) The romance works beautifully. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
70% Frequency (2000) Hoblit's visual sense never deserts him. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
11% Boys and Girls (2000) [Boys and Girls] has the same male star in Freddie Prinze Jr. and the same director in Robert Iscove, but nowhere near as much appeal. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
52% The World Is Not Enough (1999) Terrific special effects! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
19% Jack Frost (1998) The film is boring with a bad plot and so-so acting. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
30% Big Momma's House (2000) Yet the dialogue is funny (mostly punny) in unexpected ways. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
64% The Yards (2000) An experience that won't startle or surprise you but will satisfy your need to see good actors at work. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
23% Coyote Ugly (2000) The movie should appeal to anyone who likes films as mushy and unsurprising as baby food. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
22% Little Nicky (2000) It will settle forever theological discussions about whether Hell is a physical entity. It is, and I inhabited it for 90 minutes Tuesday. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
51% Anna and the King (2000) Even folks familiar with the original accounts will find much to enjoy in the new one. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
63% Man on the Moon (1999) Even if you never knew or cared much about Kaufman, you may be drawn into his world through this fictionalized biography. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
50% Bedazzled (2000) I have as much chance of remembering the experience as I do describing the consequences of the Smoot-Hawley tariff. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
67% Shaft (2000) Samuel L. Jackson's performance as John Shaft is hard as a diamond, wicked as a pointed goatee, cool as a martini in a chilled glass and polished as his own shaven skull. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
96% The Iron Giant (1999) Sweet-natured, exciting and funny! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
40% Scream 3 (2000) Is Scream 3 better or worse than Scream 2? Hmmmmm. Is a greasy plate of week-old grits better or worse than a slimy bowl of week-old Brussels sprouts? - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
51% Summer of Sam (1999) Lee has bitten off more than anyone could chew! - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
37% Rules of Engagement (2000) Tommy Lee Jones can be a sleepwalker when he's not emotionally invested in a project; here he's in high gear. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
69% Analyze This (1999) Crystal stays focused, while DeNiro yowls and bawls without shame. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
68% Stir of Echoes (1999) The movie that begins with a disquieting whimper of fear ends in a loud, improbable bang. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
28% Three to Tango (1999) Full of gay jokes that were tired back in the day of In and Out. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
83% The Legend of Drunken Master (Jui kuen II) (Drunken Fist II) (1994) Jackie Chan movies are popcorn: light, devoid of nutritional value, something you can gobble for 90 minutes without filling up. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000
61% Mystery Men (1999) Everything about the movie is extreme, yet the overall pleasure it yields lies exactly in the middle of the current Hollywood scale. - Charlotte Observer EDIT
Read More | Posted Jan 1, 2000