source: We're No Angels

Duh! - If you can just imagine Robert De Niro and Sean Penn (with matching hairdos, no less) being totally confined to have to work with a lame script and having to ultimately play a couple of really lunk-headed convicts on the run, then I think you get a fairly clear picture of what this film's got to offer when it comes to entertainment value. Set in the 1930s - Ned and Jim (2 of the most idiotic convicts you're ever gonna meet) inadvertently get the chance to escape from prison, and then find that once on the outside their only saving grace is to pose as priests visiting a monastery near the Canadian border. De Niro, who also served as Executive Producer for this goofy misfire, mugs his way through the story like you've never seen him mug before. We're No Angels also stars Demi Moore, who plays Molly, a piece of white-trash with a heart of gold (natch), who helps our 2 dimwits out of a fix and also provides the sappy love-interest for convict Jim. Personally, I think that there should be some kinda law protecting viewers from comedy as bad as this one. Yeah. It really is a bloody crime wasting one's time watching junk as moronic as this piece of pure movie-rubbish.

So Funny you need a friend with you to laugh with...yet sincere! This film is thrilling, exciting, clever, and educational & did I mention funny... truly an excellent ride! I found myself moved towards each of the characters, especially Sean Penn, which was an eye opener for me, as I am not much of a fan... yet he's character was a softer, deeper innocence! Demi more plays the buxom strong woman as usual, not that I am faulting her, when it comes to Demi I am a concrete fan, also a great fan of Robert Deniro, who also plays a strong survival character! They all work well together to bring us an education of it's projected time, & a good honest chuckle!

Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, David Mamet, and Neil Jordan combine their considerable talents to produce this sorry little mess of a film. While the plot has terrific potential to be a good comedy, very little actually works here. There were perhaps two occasions when I actually laughed, and the rest of the time I wore a wan smile waiting for the humor to begin in earnest. It never did. De Niro should stick to dramas, because he does not have, has never had, and never will have what it takes to be a good comedic actor. His primary contribution in "We're No Angels" is to mug for the camera to an extent that would make Lucille Ball embarrassed. Sean Penn is little better, using a wide-eyed, lost-little-boy expression throughout the film in an attempt to convey his character's wise-simpleton persona. Demi Moore can't act -- period. The characters played by Wallace Shawn and Ken Buhay are completely superfluous to the story, and so on. Ray McAnally and John C. Reilly provide nice turns as the prison warden and naive young monk, respectively, but they're not enough to save this production. This film is a low point in the careers of both screenwriter Mamet and director Jordan, and that is a bad combination. Rating: 4/10.

The thing I remember most about WE`RE NO ANGELS on its 1989 release is the panning it got from critics , with Robert DeNiro`s performance coming in for the most vocal criticism . I have to admit that WE`RE NO ANGELS isn`t a career highlight for the man who starred in TAXI DRIVER , THE DEER HUNTER , RAGING BULL and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA but he`s by no means bad . Neither is Sean Penn who at the time was better known as a B movie actor who was previously married to Madonna and who liked to punch journalists who took his photo without asking . The only two performances I can describe as bad are Demi Moore who`s even more unconvincing here than she usually is because she`s playing a character that requires acting , and veteran Irish award winning actor Ray McNally who is playing a sadistic caricture of a prison warder . WE`RE NO ANGELS suffers from being a comedy where director Neil Jordan and screenwriter David Mamet`s bring far too much dark oppresive atmosphere to the proceedings . The film opens with an execution and a rather violent gunbattle where people don`t simply fall down dead but leap about with blood splattering everywhere which seems out of place in a comedy . Mind you as comedies go DeNiro has appeared in a lot worse since

I was aghast at and distracted by the over the top mannerisms of both DeNiro and Penn in the staring roles. I know that this was supposed to be a comedy/drama, but all that head bobbing was too much. Not that all of the other roles were something to write home about. The priests and monks were caricatures as were the warden and his bunch of deputies. Demi Moore added little but a gratuitous * scene and a lot of senseless yelling. The ending was a predictable mix of worldly and spiritual resolution, but most interesting to me would be what happens after the end of the movie when all the secrets are uncovered between Demi and DeNiro. Why did I watch it if it bothered me that much? Well, my wife liked it because of the religious underpinnings and sentimentality. I guess between the two of us it averaged a 5 just like the overall rating.

Everyone knows what a black comedy is. But is there is such a thing as a white comedy? I think so, and I think this is one of them. In the same way that '21 Grams' works a fairly serious portrayal of a crisis of faith into a tense melodramatic thriller, 'We're No Angels' actually masks some serious thoughtfulness about the importance of faith and hope into a decently funny comedy of mistaken identity. It also illustrates concretely the truth of C.S. Lewis's famous dictum (from the Screwtape Letters)that all men become what they are pretending to be. The movie is very plotty and all the loose points neatly wrapped up. What a lot of the critics have missed is that all of the jokes are thematic, and tied to the central topics of the movie. I am not at all conventionally religious, but I do appreciate faith, and I liked this movie quite a bit.

This movie is downright awful! It has what could be argued as a great cast, but everything about this film is painfully horrible. I can't believe DeNiro and Penn made this movie. Either the director is at fault for creating this mess, or the actors blew it. You'd think actors of their caliber might have managed to save this film, but DeNiro, especially, sunk it. DeNiro plays himself, badly. In fact, the more I see of DeNiro lately, the more I wonder about his true acting ability. Was Raging Bull a fluke? He's really picked some dogs the past 10-15 years, which is a shame. Sean Penn is pretty much in the same boat. Don't even get me started on Demi Moore. I've seen better acting in 4th- grade school plays. Take my advice and ave a couple hours of your life and pass on this movie.

More of a question really. Why did De Niro's head keep constantly bobbing around like that while he pulled the old sniffing Mafia Face? did that appeal to anyone out there? it irritated me immensely. Have to score the film low as I couldn't see any finer points as his head kept bobbing around and distracting all else. Penn's Performance seemed sound from what i could see through my red mist and basically saved the film, he also resisted from picking up this head bobbing method under immense pressure to do so, I wasn't so lucky for three days i couldn't keep it still. I wonder did the Director suffer from Star Fright as any other Director would have said something on the first take, like 'Mr De Niro why are you bobbing your head like that? are you OK?'

This movie is shocking: it drains a huge amount of talent (Moore, Penn!, De Niro!!) in a stale non-story. Moore acts as a single, prostetuting herself to make some money for her ill child. Although the decision to take part in this film must have given her the proper mindset, one is left with the impression that Demi got stuck in her first attempt. Penn is a bit like Stan, but only a bit. De Niro seems to have thought that making faces and funny gestures should be enough for a comedy; it isn't. Why do people participate in a film like this? I can think of no rea$on. It's a waste of time. Of life. It's a sin!