Metacritic reviews

It doesn’t serve up the belly laughter or lightheartedness expected of the genre, at least in the traditional sense. Nor is there a satisfying ending that would align it snugly into the dramatic grouping. What it does do is excel in outright mockery of a persistent cultural issue. Primarily, the ignorance of those immersed in affluence towards the plight of their suffering neighbors.

An L.A. Minute simply recycles clichés in an unconvincing matter that smacks more of sitcom tropes than the big screen.

That such a woebegone project attracted such a largely first-rate cast is peculiar but not inexplicable; sometimes the urge to bite the hand that feeds you overwhelms your quality control filter.

The salt in the wound of this painfully out-of-touch film is the footage of real L.A. homeless camps and people, as if the film were saying something trenchant about the issue. What a gross misunderstanding of this glib story about a rich man who steals stories and inspiration from struggling people.

Daniel Adams’s An L.A. Minute makes you suffer through it all and never redeems itself, despite the potentially interesting duo of Gabriel Byrne and Kiersey Clemons as leads. The stars seem out of place with each other and in this movie, with creators who have no idea what they want to say.