The Rookie

R

1990

2h 1m

Action

List

33%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

36%

Audience Score

10,000+ Ratings

Police Det. Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) isn't so happy when he gets paired with young rookie David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen). Ackerman should have cause for concern too: Most of Pulovski's partners have ended up in body bags. But they'll have to get along if they want to take down the car-theft ring whose leaders (Raul Julia, Sonia Braga) are responsible for the death of the veteran's last partner. Does it matter that Pulovski's been pulled off the case? Not a bit.

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Empire Magazine

Fails miserably to join the ranks of buddy cop classics like Lethal Weapon and 48 hours.

Rated: 1/5

May 27, 2014

Full Review

Vincent Canby

New York Times

It's all meant in good fun, but it isn't. It's tired.

May 27, 2014

Full Review

Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

[A] depressingly familiar mismatched cop adventure ...

May 27, 2014

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

…while I came to scoff, Clint’s last cop movie is actually a fun ride…shopworn characters and yet a little bit of action movie heaven…

Rated: 3/5

Feb 20, 2024

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Clint's in this car wreck doing his usual macho thing, which might be enough to satisfy his fans.

Rated: C+

Aug 2, 2017

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

One of the worst films directed by Clint Eastwood...

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 1, 2016

Full Review

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Jithin K

Easily the worst Clint Eastwood movie I've seen, as a director or actor. It's a buddy cop movie, that's where the plot starts and ends. It tries to use a whole lot of cliches in the most boring way possible. Charlie Sheen looks bored most of the time. Can't really distinguish between what's intentional and unintentional comedy. German villains in the story but casting Hispanic actors made a lot of stuff confusing for me until it was made clear by the third act. The Mexican stereotypes in the beginning only felt worse when I realized, that the Hispanic actors using the slurs towards them are supposed to be German in the film. There were a few okay action scenes and car chases but then the movie indulges in them too much and makes it repetitive. The whole thing felt like a few episodes from a TV series of that time in the middle of a season where the show loses its audience. And the sex scene just felt like Eastwood's desire to get dominated by Sonia Braga. It was very weird and just out of place with that scene where she rapes him. It couldn't be anything other than his thinly veiled kink. The possibility of that scene must be why he made this movie, I really can't see any other reason for the existence of this movie.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/26/24

Full Review

Audience Member

I actually liked it! Good blend of comedy and action

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/22/23

Full Review

Jelisije J

An underrated Clint Eastwood movie that features Charlie Sheen as a rookie cop working with veteran cop Clint Eastwood to take down typical criminals in this entertaining cop flick.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

05/12/23

Full Review

Tony B

Car chases, pile-ups, motorcycles, gun fights, bar brawls, explosions, cheesy lines, a screaming lieutenant, two million bucks, a rookie who goes rogue, a kidnapee who gets raped by a porno star, East LA... Sheen, Eastwood, Julia, Braga… "There's probably 100 reasons I should hate this movie, but right now I can't think of one!"

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Eastwood and Sheen aren’t exactly a dream team full of chemistry. However this is still a pretty under-rated movie. Just forgettable next to a Dirty Harry movie.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/07/22

Full Review

Sergio C

As usual the "critics" get it wrong this movie is much better than anything Hollywood makes these days...

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/19/22

Full Review

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Clint Eastwood

Director

Clint Eastwood

Nick Pulovski

Charlie Sheen

David Ackerman

Raul Julia

Strom

Sonia Braga

Liesl

Tom Skerritt

Eugene Ackerman

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Synopsis

Police Det. Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) isn't so happy when he gets paired with young rookie David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen). Ackerman should have cause for concern too: Most of Pulovski's partners have ended up in body bags. But they'll have to get along if they want to take down the car-theft ring whose leaders (Raul Julia, Sonia Braga) are responsible for the death of the veteran's last partner. Does it matter that Pulovski's been pulled off the case? Not a bit.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Producer: Howard G. Kazanjian, Steven Siebert, David Valdes
Production Co: Warner Bros., Malpaso Company
Rating: R
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $20.3M
Runtime: 2h 1m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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