Within days, ads appeared quoting Bonnie Churchill of the National News Service waxing, "funny, funny, funny!" and Nancy Mills (of the Mills Syndicate) proclaiming, "Who knew Matthew McConaughey is a comic genius!"
Respectable critics disagreed. Roger Ebert's verdict? "I plan to forget this movie as soon as possible." "A disjointed mess," said the San Francisco Chronicle. "You'll groan..."
[Churchill also called Jack (with Robin Williams) "The funniest and best film you'll see." Other critics disagreed:
* "Bad movies happen" (USA Today)
* "One feels trapped in some bizarre Williams hell" (San Francisco Chronicle)
* "Downright painful" (Washington Post)]
[Shortly after the release of Goldeneye (in 1995), Chicago critic and President of the Chicago Film Critics Association Dan Gire was surprised to receive a letter from MGM containing a list of suggested quotes for journalists, and explaining that he could not use the line "The best Bond of them all" because another 'journalist' had already snared it.]