Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Desperate Hours

Play trailer Poster for Desperate Hours R 1990 1h 46m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
29% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 22% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
With the help of his defense lawyer (Kelly Lynch), who is madly in love with him, psychotic killer Michael Bosworth (Mickey Rourke) escapes prison and goes on the run with his brother (Elias Koteas) and his partner in crime (David Morse). Killing time before his lawyer can meet up with them, the three invade the home of Tim (Anthony Hopkins) and Nora Cornell (Mimi Rogers), a bickering couple on the brink of divorce. Now the couple must fight to save their marriage, and their lives.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Desperate Hours

Critics Reviews

View More
Jake Cole Slant Magazine 07/26/2022
Michael Cimino’s direction has his razzle-dazzle moments, but the film, a patchwork of awkward and cliché conversations, never generates tension. Go to Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 07/24/2001
2/4
Desperate Hours is an attempt to take a 1950s crime classic and remake it by turning up the heat, but Cimino has set the heat too high, and the result is an overwrought melodrama with dialogue even a True Detective editor would question. Go to Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 08/07/2022
1.5/4
Pure drivel, with director Michael Cimino perhaps setting a record by coaxing so many bad performances out of so many good actors. Go to Full Review Peter Canavese Celluloid Dreams 07/21/2022
1.5/4
Michael Cimino at his strangest and most bizarre. A lot of good actors here but the premise has become tiresome through repetition and the many head scratching choices it in as the plot lurches along don't help. Go to Full Review Craig J. Clark The Dissolve 06/17/2015
2.5/5
It's an overblown remake of William Wyler's 1955 film The Desperate Hours. Go to Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews 06/29/2012
2/4
A fairly pointless remake... Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Steve D 09/09/2023 Miscast and predictable but entertaining enough. See more Ravenswood R 09/01/2023 This movie is quite bad. Very little makes any sense. There are some good camera shots and interesting camera angles and occasional other filmic artistries, but there are no other good things to mention. Things happen that are utterly inexplicable. "Two girls on Waxman road?" What? The acting is bad, the story is very stupid, and the music does not fit the scenes. Emotions suggested by the music are in such contrast with what is on the screen that your mind is cognitively at war with itself until you wish you were not watching this. A mess from start to finish. Movie making failure. Disastrous. BUT: two stars for being a train wreck oddly watchable enough to get through 1 hour and 45 minutes without giving up. See more Steve L @Roybatty777 02/24/2022 Tense, gripping, overlooked thriller, fairly or not, panned by critics beholden to the original. Hopkins is superb in his first foray into playing characters not "dead from the knees down." Rourke is suitably scummy and threatening, as is the rest of his ragtag crew. Worth a watch. See more delysid d 12/17/2021 quit hating on this movie, it was great See more 01/28/2021 Very 80's feel to it, and a cool vibe to it. It could have been similar to Body Heat. But, it was not. Acting was not very good and the storyline was quite contrived. Too bad. See more 05/21/2020 What a strange, strange movie. I'm guessing we're supposed to like or at least be won over by Rourke's charisma in this, but nah, he's just an unrelatable psycho. So without a central character to connect to, this ends up being a fairly bland thriller. See more Read all reviews
Desperate Hours

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Michael Cimino

Director

Mickey Rourke

Michael Bosworth

Anthony Hopkins

Tim Cornell

Mimi Rogers

Nora Cornell

Lindsay Crouse

Brenda Chandler

Kelly Lynch

Nancy Breyers

More Like This

View All
Fatal Beauty 18% 54% Fatal Beauty Watchlist Shaft 88% 68% Shaft Watchlist Get Carter 85% 84% Get Carter Watchlist Year of the Dragon 55% 53% Year of the Dragon Watchlist Q & A 88% 58% Q & A Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Desperate Hours

Desperate Hours (1990) Desperate Hours (1990) Desperate Hours (1990) Desperate Hours (1990) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis With the help of his defense lawyer (Kelly Lynch), who is madly in love with him, psychotic killer Michael Bosworth (Mickey Rourke) escapes prison and goes on the run with his brother (Elias Koteas) and his partner in crime (David Morse). Killing time before his lawyer can meet up with them, the three invade the home of Tim (Anthony Hopkins) and Nora Cornell (Mimi Rogers), a bickering couple on the brink of divorce. Now the couple must fight to save their marriage, and their lives.
Director
Michael Cimino
Producer
Dino De Laurentiis, Michael Cimino
Screenwriter
Mark Rosenthal, Joseph Hayes, Lawrence Konners
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp., MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Rating
R
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 5, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.6M
Runtime
1h 46m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby
Most Popular at Home Now