--- title: "After Hours: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/after-hours/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/after-hours" critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # After Hours (1985): what the critics said Critics' score 73 from 12 reviews: 9 positive, 1 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics like After Hours a good deal and agree on what it is: a black comedy that turns one night in downtown Manhattan into a nightmare and mines the panic for laughs. The praise settles on Scorsese’s control of tone, building a bad situation step by step until the laughter turns uneasy, and on Michael Ballhaus’s restless camerawork, the sharp editing and Joseph Minion’s oddly observed screenplay. Griffin Dunne’s office drone is widely taken as the right sort of everyman, more reactive than heroic. The spread is wide. Both negative notices come from New York in 1985: The New Yorker finds the film sags into a random string of events with little underneath, and The New York Times calls it an entertaining but incoherent tease, admiring Ballhaus and not much else. Time Out notes an undercurrent of misogyny that sours the fun. Later reviews run warmer than the original ones, several arguing the comedy has receded with age and the strangeness has grown. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 11 October 1985. The film is a brilliant, tense comedy that builds a nightmare situation step by step until laughter feels hollow or defensive. Scorsese controls effects masterfully as a master filmmaker examining Manhattan as a state of mind. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/after-hours-1985) ## Slant Magazine — Budd Wilkins Rating ★★★★. 20 July 2023. The critic views the film as a sharp black comedy that mines urban anxiety and paranoia for unsettling yet often hilarious effect, praising its propulsive visuals, razor-sharp editing, luminous cinematography, and sardonic treatment of existential themes drawn from Kafka, noir, and farce. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/after-hours-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-martin-scorsese/) ## Los Angeles Times — Sheila Benson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 September 1985. Scorsese turns urban fears into a hilarious, personal-size comedy with dazzling moviemaking and a pungently observed screenplay. Benson highlights the well-observed script by Joseph Minion and elegant contributions from the editor and production designer. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-27-ca-18469-story.html) ## Radio Times — Alan Jones Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). Scorsese conceived this brilliantly original yuppie nightmare with Griffin Dunne as the angst-ridden everyman in a spiralling tale of persecution. It's weird, wonderful and wildly funny. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-h2gqw9/after-hours/) ## Empire — Ian Nathan Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic calls After Hours sneakily one of Scorsese’s best, a liberated and hyperkinetic black comedy that feels like a labour of love with caustic energy. They single out the surreal, demented streetlife encounters and the giddy camera style for praise. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hours-2-review/) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 20 March 2024. Martin Scorsese’s 1985 screwball noir is viewed as an atypical but time-enhanced work whose comic elements have receded in favor of strangeness and anxiety. The critic singles out the film’s dreamlike quality, Kafkaesque coincidences, and wry final sequence for particular note. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/20/after-hours-review-martin-scorseses-1980s-shaggy-dog-story-is-a-peculiar-potent-film) ## Sight and Sound — Richard Combs Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 June 1986. Scorsese has become the chronicler of frustration in this comedy of a man trapped in purgatory-like circumstances. The first half excels in pixillated horror and dreamlike logic that turns everyday elements into haunting talismans. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/scorsese-has-become-a-threnodist-of-frustration-after-hours-reviewed-1986) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. Scorsese's screwball comedy is perhaps his most frightening picture as the protagonist sinks into mad emotions, but a tight script and tuned performances keep the laughs flowing. Only undercurrents of misogyny leave a sour taste. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/after-hours) ## Variety Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1984. Festival review. The paranoia-and-persecution cinema reaches an apogee in this nightmarish black comedy that would be funnier if it did not confirm worst fears about urban life. The review notes vibrant supporting performances and easy identification with the reactive lead. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1984/film/reviews/after-hours-1200426656/) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 16 September 1985. Scorsese directs with a knowing, hip air but the movie sags into a random series of events that fails to deliver as an entertaining trifle. Kael notes lively camerawork early on but criticizes the lack of substance and rooted moments beyond one standout performance. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1985/09/23/airheads-delight) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1985. The film is an entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying tease that disorients its protagonist through a series of arresting yet incoherent episodes. Canby praises the aggressive, willful cinematography by Michael Ballhaus as the standout element. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/13/movies/after-hours-from-martin-scorsese.html) ## The Skinny — Lewis Porteous Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 3 February 2017. Scorsese's aptitude for comedy is too often overlooked, but nowhere is it more apparent than in After Hours. A wilfully surreal screenplay is handled with deadpan assurance, exploring tensions between New York's gritty landscapes and gentrification as Griffin Dunne's office drone ricochets through a night of thwarted escapes. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/opinion/reassessing-martin-scorseses-legacy) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/after-hours.md