The reviews lean positive, with praise clustering around the rhythm and blues performances, the soundtrack and the physical comedy. The musical numbers are the most consistent pleasure, earning approval even from critics who find the surrounding film excessive. More enthusiastic reviews also celebrate the inventive car chases, ambitious stunt work and Belushi and Aykroyd’s straight-faced performances, treating the sprawling chaos as part of the appeal.
The disagreement concerns how much of that chaos the film can sustain, and how it treats the black culture it celebrates. Some critics find the chases exhilarating; others see repetition and a thin story stretched too far. Time Out admires the music but questions the cultural tourism, while The New York Times finds the staging and editing exhausting and the brothers’ attachment to black culture insufficiently explored. The spread is substantial: the same excess that delights the admirers wears down the dissenters.