67
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA consistently hilarious parody of the noir and detective genres, expertly blending classic archival footage with the action.
- 91Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyThe vintage footage is seamlessly integrated into the action, and the end result is both very funny and very true to the conventions of the detective movie.
- 89Austin ChronicleAustin ChronicleMartin's inner giddiness makes Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid a classic. This loose film is more than a spoof of the hard-boiled noir of the Forties and Fifties; it is a tribute to the wonderful memories these films created in a generation.
- 80The New York TimesVincent CanbyThe New York TimesVincent CanbyA genial, gently mocking, brilliantly executed spoof that may offend the purists but which should delight the buffs.
- 80EmpireWilliam ThomasEmpireWilliam ThomasThe technique used here to plonk Martin in classic movies seems out of place given the kind of sophisticated effects we have on tap today, but there is a real sense of fun at work nonetheless.
- 70Time OutTime OutSome amusement is derived from watching a film that so obviously had to be worked out backwards. The bits in between feature likeable Martin as a keen but clumsy detective - with all the good lines, which is no bad thing because he's the best part of this fairly amusing, clever exercise in editing.
- 60Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumCarl Reiner comedy whose technical execution (Michael Chapman's cinematography is masterful) is better than its script.
- 50Miami HeraldBill CosfordMiami HeraldBill CosfordDead Men Don't Wear Plaid thus has considerable appeal to movie buffs for whom the black-and-white semi-classics of an earlier era are familiar treasures. For the rest of us, it is a senior thesis -- variations on a single theme, executed carefully but always to the same effect. [21 May 1982, p.D2]
- 50Washington PostGary ArnoldWashington PostGary ArnoldA curiously overextended spoof of the cliche's of Hollywood's hard-boiled mystery melodramas of the 1940s. [21 May 1982, p.B4]