"a deadly funny movie; nearly every scene is broken off with a punch line. But Parker's sense of comedy is organic; he never lets the jokes elbow the characters, or the music, out of the spotlight." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times also praised Parker's direction, writing, " ... Parker has loosened up quite a bit here, not forcing the action as much as he did in the similar Fame and bringing a surprisingly loony touch to characters like Jimmy's Elvis-obsessed father." Time magazine reviewer Richard Corliss wrote, "The film offers no message, no solutions, only a great time at the movies." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the film was "filled with life and energy, and the music is honest." On the syndicated television program Siskel & Ebert At the Movies, Ebert gave the film a "Thumbs Up" rating, while his colleague Gene Siskel gave the film a "Thumbs Down". Siskel, writing for the Chicago Tribune, felt that the film was "a joyful but empty mixture of Irish kids and black American soul music". In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman criticized the overall premise as being "downright insulting", explaining, "In Parker's hands, soul music becomes little more than a self-serving metaphor – an easy symbol for 'commitment' and integrity." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone criticized the storytelling, writing in his review, " ... the predictable way in which the band's nine men and three women argue about music, sex and fame robs the story of urgency." Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated, "The Commitments becomes repetitive after a while, since so much of it is about the group's stage show, and since the effort to create an off-stage story never really works." David Denby of New York Magazine felt that the film has "a raspy surface authenticity and a great deal of affection for its characters and milieu but not much dramatic interest." Accolades The Commitments received various awards and nominations in categories ranging from recognition of the film itself to its writing, direction, editing and sound to the supporting performance of Andrew Strong. In September 1990, the film debuted at the 4th Tokyo International Film Festival, where it competed for the "Tokyo Grand Prix Award" and was nominated for the Best Director Award, with Parker winning in the latter category. In January 1992, the film received a Golden Globe Award nomination