Unlawful Entry

R

Released Jun 26, 1992

1 hr. 51 min.

Mystery & Thriller

List

76%

37 Reviews

Tomatometer

49%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Happily married Michael (Kurt Russell) and Karen Carr (Madeleine Stowe) call the police after a failed robbery. Officer Pete Davis (Ray Liotta) arrives and helps arrange the installation of a new security system. The grateful Carrs have Pete to dinner and strike up a friendship. Pete invites Michael to ride with him during a night's patrol and gives him the chance to beat up the burglar. Michael refuses and tells the disturbed cop to stay away, but Pete begins stalking the terrified couple.

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Critics Consensus

Unlawful Entry may not depict a particularly novel or believable situation, but tense direction and a roundly committed cast make it easy to get caught up in the moment.

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Abe A

In the 90s there was a strong fad of movies dealing with obsession. I don't know exactly when it started but it took off with Fatal Attraction (1987) through Basic Instinct (1992). This is one of those movies from that period. None of them except Fatal Attraction were particularly believable. This is an interesting thriller, but obsession--in a setting that's not believable--gets tiresome as a theme, especially when it relieves the screenplay of the requirement for characterization. You could predict where the plot was going--much of it was telegraphed. It's certainly watchable, but not memorable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/12/24

Full Review

Jelisije J

Two thirds of this movie is well paced and acted, but the third and final act is very rushed to get a typical hollywood movie ending.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/24

Full Review

Stoner J

Absolutely fantastic dirty cop/stalker thriller. liotta plays the best unhinged and ruthlessly dirty obsessed cop I've ever seen and Russell is also great. Perfect ending as well!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/21/23

Full Review

cj d

Does Stowe just play a victim in all her movies? You can run next door, grab a gun, but instead these predictable movies always play the idiot. Russell fluctuates between being a push-over and assertive which doesn't really work. Liotta's motive is bizarre, so he's a mixed up dude who wants to bang the uptown girl instead of his usual street hooker and is willing to kill everyone around him to do it, to only call her a whore in the end and freak out. The movie really didn't make any sense and just relies on emotional reactions for cheap thrills.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe, and the late Ray Liotta Michael and Karen Carr are happily married Then they encounter a home invasion An officer of the law, Pete Davis then offers to step in and make sure they're safe but as time goes on his intentions become more questionable and even frightening Pete has an unusual fixation with Michael's wife; Michael tries to get this man's precinct aware of it but nobody will heed his warnings even go so far as to say he's making the whole thing up just to destroy a good cop's name This is the kind of stuff you'd expect from the premise of a lifetime feature on television I can't stress how long it takes to get to the juicy stuff It shouldn't take an hour and a half for the obsessive villain to make his move, the features on tv move quicker than this Lewis Colick's script nor Jonathan Kaplan's direction is quite as streamlined as it could be and there's a lot of serious gaps in logic Yet Liotta comes off as perfectly menacing and unstable as a crooked cop abusing his power even if this situation isn't 100% believable As far as victimization thrillers go this is just ok but has enough tension during the last half

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/05/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Well worth the viewing. Russell,and Liotta,and Stowe give great complimentary performances. Liotta revels in his role very nicely,and the plot twists get you good.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Jonathan Kaplan

Director

Kurt Russell

Michael Carr

Ray Liotta

Officer Pete Davis

Madeleine Stowe

Karen Carr

Roger E. Mosley

Officer Roy Cole

Ken Lerner

Roger Graham

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: B-

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Jo Berry

Empire Magazine

A wonderfully nasty turn from Liotta, along with a novel treatment of familiar plotlines, elevates Kaplan's effort into the 'must see' category.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 9, 2008

Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Although it exists primarily to send an audience into a bloodthirsty frenzy and has major credibility problems in the bargain, Unlawful Entry is still a very effective victimization thriller.

Apr 9, 2008

Full Review

Russell Rhodes

Birmingham Mail

Formula but fun.

Dec 14, 2023

Full Review

Bob Shelton

Birmingham Post

Well told, if not altogether plausible, Unlawful Entry should give thriller-lovers a pleasant jolt of anxiety.

Dec 14, 2023

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Easily among the best in its ’90s-stalker subgenre, "Unlawful Entry" finds a way to give people exactly what they want from such a thriller and a sense of understanding its players that they might not expect.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jun 30, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Happily married Michael (Kurt Russell) and Karen Carr (Madeleine Stowe) call the police after a failed robbery. Officer Pete Davis (Ray Liotta) arrives and helps arrange the installation of a new security system. The grateful Carrs have Pete to dinner and strike up a friendship. Pete invites Michael to ride with him during a night's patrol and gives him the chance to beat up the burglar. Michael refuses and tells the disturbed cop to stay away, but Pete begins stalking the terrified couple.

Director: Jonathan Kaplan
Screenwriter: George Putnam, John Katchmer, Lewis Colick
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: JVC Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Largo Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 26, 1992, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 6, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $55.9M
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, Surround, Stereo

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