80
Written with brio and staged rousingly by director Taylor Hackford, the film is good, kitschy fun -- after all, how can you hate a movie that casts litigators as the new legions of Lucifer?
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Taylor Hackford's thriller makes a mischievous assault on today's legal system, but its points would be more telling if the story didn't veer so often into needless sensationalism and eye-catching effects.
70
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
The story (adapted from Andrew Neiderman's novel by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy) is surprisingly well-handled, given its rather crazy premise.
70
The New York Times by Elvis Mitchell
The film uses morphing and Rick Baker's monster effects strikingly, but it also keeps its gimmicks well tethered to reality.
50
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
God save us when director Taylor Hackford decides to become a metaphysician and Al Pacino decides to demonstrate his genius by reading the phone book--or, to be precise, a script only slightly less repetitive and long-winded.
60
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Directed in bold, energetic strokes by Taylor Hackford, "Devil" is fine disreputable fun at first, a stylish and watchable hoot. But then its tone changes, the plot goes gimmicky and bombastic speeches about the nature of good and evil clutter the airwaves and confuse the issue.
50
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
This supremely silly supernatural potboiler is slickly entertaining for just under two hours and absolutely hilarious for 10 minutes near the end.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen
The Devil's Advocate is a dull morality tale, but a number of bright moments come courtesy of the Prince of Darkness.
63
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
It is not a serious film about its subject, nor is it quite a dark comedy, despite some of Pacino's good lines. The epilogue, indeed, cheats in a way I thought had been left behind in grade school. And yet there are splendid moments.
80
Washington Post by Stephen Hunter
Unlike so many pagan entertainments that seem to have no moral center as they blow things up, this one in fact does. It's very small, but it's there.