North has been called
one of the worst films ever made. Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.
Kenneth Turan stated in his review, "The problem overall is not so much that the humor, especially in the parent-tryout situations, is forced, but that it simply is not there at all. So little is going on in this mildest of fantasies that it is hard to even guess what kinds of emotional effects were aimed at in the first place." Turan wrote, "How could director Rob Reiner, whose touch for what pleases a mass audience is usually unfailing, have strayed this far?" Joe Brown of
The Washington Post called the film "a gentle, harmless and rather pedestrian fantasy" that "seldom raises more than a chuckle."
Stephen Hunter of
The Baltimore Sun wrote that the film had "no characters, only cutouts", describing it as just "there, dim and witless, occasionally rancidly racist."
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times was somewhat more positive, writing that the film "doesn't always work, but much of it is clever in amusingly unpredictable ways."
North was a multiple nominee at the
15th Golden Raspberry Awards in six categories including
Worst Picture and
Worst Director for Rob Reiner. In an interview with
Archive of American Television, Reiner defended the film, saying:
Siskel & Ebert's reviews Film critic
Roger Ebert of
The Chicago Sun-Times seemed especially baffled by
North, describing Reiner as "a gifted filmmaker" and Wood as "a talented young actor", but deeming
North "one of the worst movies ever made." Ebert stressed that he "hated this movie" and also suggested the film was so poorly written that even the best child actor would look bad in it, and viewed it as "some sort of lapse" on Reiner's part. Ebert awarded
North a rare zero-star rating. An abridged version of the remark quoted above became the title of a 2000 book by Ebert,
I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie, a compilation of reviews of films most disliked by Ebert. Comedian
Richard Belzer, who appeared in
North, goaded Reiner into reading part of the review aloud at Reiner's
roast; after doing so, Reiner joked, "If you read between the lines, it's not that bad." Writer Alan Zweibel acknowledged that the film had "a veritable avalanche" of negative reviews. He said Ebert's review was "embarrassing" and "hurtful", writing that it was often quoted to him, his wife, and his son (who had inspired the book
North). Zweibel described Ebert as "a terrific writer, so maybe that was also part of the reason why it bothered me so much." In an encounter with Ebert years later, Zweibel jokingly said "And I just have to tell you, Roger, that that sweater you're wearing? I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate that sweater." He also keeps a clipping of it in his wallet, which he reads at public events. Ebert and his co-host on
Siskel and Ebert,
Gene Siskel, both pronounced it the worst film of 1994, an opinion they each came to independently. In their original review, Ebert called it "one of the most thoroughly hateful movies in recent years. A movie that makes me cringe even when I'm sitting here thinking about it." He later added, "I hated this movie as much as any movie we have ever reviewed in the 19 years we've been doing this show. I hated it because of the premise, which seems shockingly cold-hearted, and because this premise is being suggested to
kids as children's entertainment, and because everybody in the movie was vulgar and stupid, and because the jokes weren't funny, and because most of the characters were obnoxious, and because of the phony attempt to add a little pseudo-hip philosophy with the Bruce Willis character." Ebert's future co-host on
Ebert and Roeper,
Richard Roeper, would later go on to list
North as one of the 40 worst movies he's ever seen, stating: "Of all the films on this list,
North may be the most difficult to watch from start to finish. I've tried twice and failed. Do yourself a favor and don't even bother. Life is too short."
Box office The film grossed only $7 million in the United States and Canada and $12.2 million worldwide, making it one of the worst-performing films of the year given its large budget. • Top 10 worst (alphabetical order, not ranked) – William Arnold,
Seattle Post-Intelligencer • Top 10 worst (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle,
Knoxville News-Sentinel • Dishonorable mention – Glenn Lovell,
San Jose Mercury News • Dishonorable mention – Dan Craft,
The Pantagraph • Worst (not ranked) – Bob Ross,
The Tampa Tribune Accolades == See also ==