Popular reviews

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  Review by MichaelEternity ★★★ 3

  Yet another version of "The Front Page", more clearly remaking the much earlier famous adaptation "His Girl Friday", while thankfully making its own effort to toss this salad in some new ways. The keys to getting a picture like this really racing down the road the way you want are casting and generating a screwball pace, and the movie succeeds at both (says me; many consider Christopher Reeve miscast and get hung up on the back-stage feuding between stars Burt and Turner. "Burt N Turner", coming soon to TNT!)

  Reeve subverting his branded heroism was always worth admission to me (see also "Deathtrap"), and here he's the Baxter, the wrong man in a love triangle, a guy who at first…

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  Review by RhodesMovie ★★½ 2

  Even with Kathleen Turner's frisky energy, Christopher Reeve's wheedling ways and Burt Reynolds' cocksure zest, Switching Channels is still a stuttering comedy that overly revels in the absurd.

  That said, it could easily become a cosy comfort movie, given my prior affection for Reeve and Turner. Much of it is shot around mid-80's Chicago, giving it a lively step and busy atmosphere, and the cast conjure bouts of chemistry doing wonders with not very much.

  Christopher Reeve having a blast with blonde highlights playing a stereotypical 80's yuppie was a fun novelty, even though he gets elbowed out by Burt Reynolds. Gladly, Turner is the glue that binds the movie together and even as the daftness pours in, she's always…

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  Review by Krommedijk ★★★½

  Saw it in a cinema, back in 1988, and thought it was hilarious. As I said before, a couple of years later, I found out it was a remake of Wilder's The Front Page - a remake in in itself - and even stronger than Switching Channels. However, in my opinion, Switching Channels still stands and does a great job. Most people tend to dislike this popularized version of the story, but I think the hardliners, the (political) cunning, the press running everywhere but to the point and the chemistry between Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds were terrific. This is the third time I watch it and it still stands. You can achieve a lot with a great script and a cast with great comic talent.

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  Review by Luke Thorne ★★

  Ted Kotcheff’s comedy in which a television news chief tempts his anchor-woman ex-wife with an eleventh-hour story. Starring Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner and Christopher Reeve.

  Switching Channels is an adaptation of the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, which first occurred in 1928.

  However, the first adaptation of the play The Front Page was done three years later, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O’Brien.

  In 1940, Howard Hawks did his version titled His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, described as the fastest-talking comedy in Hollywood.

  The next adaptation of the play would be The Front Page, directed by Billy Wilder, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, with Susan…

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  Review by Timothy Dodd ★★

  The three millionth remake of His Girl Friday, Switching Channels is really, really, really 1988. The hair is big, the glasses are big and the clothes are pastel. Burt Reynolds is no Cary Grant but he's the best thing about the movie. No, really. It's nice to see Christopher Reeve do comedy but what starts as a funny character turns into a dip just so Kathleen Turner can find a reason to go back to Burt Reynolds even though he kind of treated her like shit and their marriage had to have broken up for a reason. Henry Gibson, who I usually find funny, is kinda wasted in this movie. No, not drunk (even though I have no proof of…

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  Review by AJ ★★½

  Reading on how rough the production was, I'm shocked this wasn't an utter disaster. Reeves keeps his beloved streak going by being the backstage referee during production between Reynolds and Turner.

  Burt Reynolds #5

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  Review by Keith Grubb ★★★½

  Very 80s looking version of The Front Page. Compared to previous versions it doesn't stand up to them, on its own merits it has a likeable cast and while it isn't hilarious it keeps the fun chaotic energy going from start to finish.
  Remembering it back in 88, it didn't get much love from the critics and was infamous for the feud between Reynolds and Turner. Despite the feud it didn't show on screen. I haven't thought about it since and it seems to have disappeared without trace, that is until tonight when it turned up on the obscure Talking Pictures channel.
  Despite that reputation, I found myself enjoying the over the top plot and the performances of the two leads, Reeves, Ned Beatty and Henry Gibson.
  The fashion and hair are spectacular, it's saying something when Burt has the best hair on show.
  Not bad at all.

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  Review by Jason Cawood ★★★★

  You monsters with your low star ratings. This is great!

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  Review by Dan O'Neill ★★½

  A little too crazy and all over the place. But still charming. I guess. Hard to go wrong with that trio of leads. I guess.

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  Review by ~findlay ★★★

  never knew how many times His Girl Friday had been remade until i looked into this, mainly because i kept going "hold on, this is a remake of Wilder's the Front Page!" then remembered that was a remake of an original so im guessing 1988 was really leaning on the archetypes to pay for another rake of cocaine as it rode into the sunset.

  anyway this is ok, brisk and manic. feels like Kotcheff was too busy managing reynolds and turners off-screen fighting/a bunch of doped out producers to really make something more interesting than edible drivel.

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  Review by Jaume Vaquer ★★★½

  RECORDANDO A BURT REYNOLDS (y 3)
  Claro, la comparamos con las versiones anteriores y pierde. Y nos podemos preguntar si era necesaria una nueva versión que cambia periódicos por noticiarios televisivos. Pero me da que hay mucho quejica snob a la hora de criticarla.
  Porque si la miramos por sus méritos propios, tiene a Turner en plena forma, un Reynolds encantadoramente cabrón y un Reeve maravillosamente pijo, tiene una trama que potencia la sátira política, sin bajones de ritmo, algunos buenos gags y diálogos estupendos.

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  Review by Dan Gorman ★★★

  This '88 take on His Girl Friday transplanted to the world of network television news can't stick the landing, but for two-thirds of its running time proves to be a fun diversion with three entertaining performances. Definitely overstays it's welcome, though.