The reviews are unanimous in their approval, and they land in the same place: this is a familiar chase comedy made to look fresh by the two men at the centre of it. Critics praise De Niro’s exasperated bounty hunter and Grodin’s fussy, unflappable accountant as an odd couple whose bickering carries the film, and several credit Martin Brest for keeping the shoot-outs and the jokes in balance. The script and the supporting cast get approving mentions too.
The spread is narrow, and nobody dislikes it. Where reservations appear, they concern the action rather than the comedy: Time Out finds Brest falling back on car chases, and Vulture thinks some scenes and set pieces are overstuffed, with the leads’ rapport doing the work of keeping the viewer engaged. The AV Club goes furthest the other way, ranking it above all of De Niro’s other comic work, while Roger Ebert is alone in singling out the emotional weight of the finale.