RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

SnoopyStyle Daisy (Drew Barrymore) encounters a woman on her delivery. Sketch artist Jack Whitfield (Jeff Fahey) helps Daisy recover the woman's face who is suspected have killed Tommy Silvers. He is shocked to see the resemblance to his wife Rayanne (Sean Young). He changes the picture before handing it in to Lieutenant Tonelli. There is strain in his marriage and he wonders if she has something on the side. As his fake sketch leads to a suspect, he starts investigating on his own. He is shocked again to find out Rayanne is working for Silvers.This needs much more intensity. The idea of a thriller centering on the police sketch artist is interesting. The movie sets it up pretty well. It needs more Barrymore as the damsel in distress. The movie falls flat as Fahey is left to his own device. The premise may be good but it's a long slow downhill slide in this non-thrilling thriller.

Wizard-8 "Sketch Artist" feels like just about everyone involved in making the movie - the actors, director, and writer - has the life sucked out of them before filming started. To begin with, take the title character, played by Jeff Fahey. There is no particular reason why we feel we should get involved in his plight. He is almost completely without emotion or passion, his appearance is sloppy, he makes some pretty dumb decisions, and his investigation of the mystery is done incredibly slowly, like he just doesn't care about what could happen to him. The director didn't seem to care about his character as well. There's no feeling of tension or panic anywhere in the movie, and the climax has the impact of a wet noodle hitting the ground.I will admit that Drew Barrymore, in a limited role, does give a surprisingly decent performance. And it's always fun to see bald-headed actor James Tolkan play another authority figure, though his role is limited as well. But neither actor is given enough to make the movie worth watching.

OhKatieLaughs One of the first things askew with Sketch Artist is the complete mismatching of Fahey and Young. The casting agent must have been on drugs to think that the brittle Young and the jacked up Fahey could have chemistry. Their love scenes are uncomfortable and unbelievable. When they embrace passionately, Young is so passive and Fahey is so unhinged, the tendency would be to fear for Young's safety if, in fact, it would be possible to fear for a character who seems so soulless and vacant. The problem is, of course, that this interpretation does not follow the plot line since Young is the one who is clearly supposed to be in control.Fahey's and Young's characters are alike in one way, however: both of them feel contrived. Young seems like she's just coasting on her remarkable looks. Fahey is a bundle of acting tricks: flinging his cigarettes angrily out of windows, throwing things on the floor in fits of angst and yelling (unconvincingly) angry things. When he's not throwing cigarettes, papers, or words, he's posing partially unclothed. Not that Fahey is a bad looking guy, but the presence of so many scenes--Fahey shirtless, partially shirtless, walking around in his underwear, or dressing--is pandering, and so annoying.The plot was as unbelievable as the characters. There are multiple instances of the narrative not supporting the characters' actions, improbability (for example, another poster here pointed out that Fahey steals a car and never gets caught--even has a police car pass him without repercussion. He also breaks into multi-million dollar homes where there is, apparently, no security) and predictability. Drew Barrymore was wasted in a role that required her to stumble through an indifferent witness description and play dead (interesting that her armpits are notably unshaven. How quirky is that?).On a positive note, there are some pleasant surprises. Fahey's car doesn't ever start so he's always bumming rides. There's a delightful (yet unfulfilling) scene where Jack questions a woman (Stacy Haiduk?) in her home and she shares her last can of beer with him by pouring part of it into a china cup.Throughout this movie I kept thinking, "Someone is hoping to get a sequel out of this." I was right because three years later, the sequel to this squealer appeared--Sketch Artist 2: Hands That See.All in all, not a horrible film, for a TV movie, but not a good one. It has a few redeeming moments and is enjoyable for the horrible clothing if nothing else.

guilfisher-1 I found this 1992 TV movie not only irritating but a waste of two good talents. What a waste to see Sean Young in a thankless role and Drew Barrymore seen only in a few clips. Both ladies, high on my list of good actresses, were seen only in a few scenes. And those scenes gave them nothing to do. Instead we're forced to watch Jeff Fahey play a role that got more irritating as it went along. If he chain smoked in another scene I was going to scream. With hair from the 70s, unshaven, unkempt and generally looking as seedy as you can get, you wondered what Sean saw in this loser. In life he'd never get away with what he does in this film. Stealing a car, as a detective, even having a police car pass him on the road and not getting stopped. I won't bother you with all the flaws of this movie. It was written by Michael Angeli and directed by Phedon Papamichael. So I give this loser 2 stars for the 2 ladies wasted in a bad bad movie.