Matt Dillon and Andrew McCarthy are engaging, but David Stevens’ overly conventional direction lacks the style to bring freshness and punch to Spencer Eastman’s complicated and drawn-out script.
In Kansas, Andrew McCarthy and Matt Dillon have a way of taking pages of dialogue and making it sound like ... pages of dialogue.
40
The New York TimesCaryn James
The New York TimesCaryn James
For a film so exhaustively loaded with silliness, Kansas is remarkably dull. [23 Sep 1988, p.C17]
38
Miami HeraldJuan Carlos Coto
Miami HeraldJuan Carlos Coto
McCarthy wanders around this movie like he's lost. You'll suffer the same fate in Kansas. [23 Sep 1988, p.E5]
30
Time Out
Time Out
An uneven blend of crime thriller and rural romance, this aims for an adult complexity but misses the target by a mile.
25
TV Guide Magazine
TV Guide Magazine
Because the screenplay is more concerned with its formula plot than with character development, neither McCarthy nor Dillon offer any real insights into this theme.
25
Chicago TribuneJohanna Steinmetz
Chicago TribuneJohanna Steinmetz
In a film which can't seem to decide whether it's comedy or drama, folksy or sinister, every scene is played for ambivalence. The result is a definite maybe. [23 Sep 1988, p.L]