72
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumPrince himself, passing through a spectrum of costumes and sexual roles, is never less than commanding, as performer, composer, and director.
- 80The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinPrince, whose ties to soul and jazz are clearer than ever before, whose willingness to embrace different musical forms seems to grow all the time, has never cast a stronger spell.
- 80Time OutTime OutMusically, it's a matter of opinion, but from the sparse funk of the title tune to the bebop blow-out around Charlie Parker's Now's the Time, this guiltless grooving in Eden fizzes with brilliantly choreographed wit and invention.
- 80Posing, pouting and pirouetting with androgynous abandon, pushing his guitar into ethereal, upper-register soundstorms and giving supple voice to songs of sensual and emotional free-fall in an anomic contemporary world, Prince provides music video addicts with a pure fix of visual and aural synchronicity.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIn Purple Rain, Prince found an answer in his own life, and provided intercuts to an autobiographical story. This time, he lets the music simply speak for itself. It's fun as far as it goes, but Purple Rain, of course, went further.
- 75Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanThe cutting and camera work in Sign ‘O’ the Times are too intrusive, and the somewhat discordant songs worked better as a magnificent hodgepodge on the album. Still, this concert movie (which barely made it to theaters) is a feisty, engaging show.
- 75Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrThough it never quite transcends its status as a simple concert film, Prince's Sign o' the Times gives far greater range to his talent than his widely successful movie debut, the 1984 Purple Rain. [20 Nov 1987, p.A]
- 60Los Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonLos Angeles TimesMichael WilmingtonAs a concert film, judged from the music, Sign O' the Times is near the top. As a movie -- carrying inside it the embryo of other movies -- it's not fully satisfying. But you sense it could be; however he stumbles, Prince gives you the impression he'll always, catlike, leap back. [20 Nov 1987, p.4]
- 50Washington PostRichard HarringtonWashington PostRichard HarringtonThe film as a whole is a little like one of those inflatable love dolls -- a reasonable facsimile, but nothing like the real thing.
- 40TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineUnfortunately, it only hints at the real fire the purple one brings to his shows.