St. Louis Post-Dispatch by Harper Barnes

Blaze is essentially a farce with moral overtones. Newman appropriately plays Long for laughs, but he also shows us a complex man with some admirable characteristics and much sadness inside. [15 Dec 1989, p.3F]

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

Although Newman is a delight, the best surprise in the movie is the performance of a new actress named Lolita Davidovich, who plays Blaze Starr. She has a comfortableness in the role that is just right.

Tampa Bay Times by Hal Lipper

Writer-director Shelton builds his story around Starr's and Long's scandalous affair, capturing Long's unprecedented bid for a fourth gubernatorial term and his fight against Louisiana's voter registration law, which disenfranchised illiterate blacks. Through Long's eccentric and purportedly immoral behavior, Shelton captures the last gasp of American innocence when public officials could do as they pleased with minimal scrutiny by the press. Handsome, fulfilling, though not entirely perfect movie. [13 Dec 1989, p.1D]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Jay Scott

If Blaze is not historically or psychologically reliable, it is a reliable good time. This is a meaningless movie, but there's no arguing with Ron Shelton's skills as a frothy screwball romantic: in Blaze, nobody gets burned. [14 Dec 1989]

USA Today by Susan Wloszczyna

Blaze is like an old-fashioned striptease - the juicy story line gets you all hot and bothered, but you end up wanting more. [13 Dec 1989, p.4D]

San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Stack

The film, with Newman's riveting performance, is an exceptional portrait of an oddball politician who is equal parts scoundrel and folk hero, wielding power with a quirky, almost cantankerous charm, while also pulling strings in a loyal and powerful Southern political machine. [13 Dec 1989, p.E1]

Chicago Tribune by Dave Kehr

Blaze is a high-spirited, though slightly botched follow-up to Shelton's appealing Bull Durham of 1988, drawing on the same combination of enthusiastic heterosexuality and cozy male bonding. Politics here takes the place of baseball in the earlier film: another all-American team sport, with its veterans and rookies, official rules and unspoken scams, high idealism and casual corruption. [13 Dec 1989, p.1C]

Boston Globe by Jay Carr

If Blaze is a bit mushy, it's also more than skin deep. It's the kind of film whose shortcomings are easy to minimize. It's a muted last hurrah for a departed and worthy brand of populism, but a hurrah all the same. [13 Dec 1989, p.66P]

Washington Post by Rita Kempley

Blaze is a celebration of the sporting life, as zesty as Cajun music and as tickly as a feather boa.

The New York Times by Janet Maslin

Blaze has been beautifully photographed by Haskell Wexler in the soft, lulling colors of the Louisiana countryside, against which Ms. Davidovich's amusingly garish costumes stand out as markedly as they're meant to. The costumes, by Ruth Myers, are particularly good, with ice-cream-colored suits for Mr. Newman that allow him to dominate the film visually just as surely as he dominates it dramatically.