I did, but I take responsibility for my actions. All I can say--and this is not in way of a defense--is if you liked the first part of 'Stick,' that's what I was trying to achieve throughout. "I didn't say anything at the time," he later added. "I decided to keep my mouth shut and swallow hard. But it was devastating. I didn't want to direct for another four years." Reception Stick received generally negative reviews from critics. Despite opening at No. 1 in its first weekend, the film was a box-office flop, grossing just $8.5 million when compared to its $22 million budget. Critical On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 38% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that Reynolds had been miscast "by a director who should have known better, that director being Mr. Reynolds himself. Certainly his eagerness to film Mr. Leonard's Florida-based crime drama is understandable; the book has crackling tough-guy dialogue and a story that practically tells itself. What is less understandable is his insistence on reshaping such ostensibly foolproof material to support a star turn." A review in Variety stated "Despite a few good action sequences, overall pic lacks the tension and suspense that could have got audiences involved instead of only mildly interested. Reynolds' direction is competent, but lacks the texture that could have fleshed out the distinctive personalities." Gene Siskel gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "What director Reynolds and actor Reynolds have done to 'Stick' is inexcusable. They've made it part burlesque and part conventional chase picture. Actor Reynolds' portrayal of Stick, a gritty ex-con out to avenge a friend's murder, is not much different from his good-old-boy persona in the 'Cannonball Run' films." Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Elmore Leonard's novel "has been rendered jokey, flaccid, and, the worst crime of all, deadly slow. All this in spite of the fact that Leonard was the original screenwriter." Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post wrote "Reynolds never figures out whether he's making a thriller or a spoof, which has been the problem with his performances, too. His acting swivels from gravelly, glowering tough-guyness to nudge-and-wink appeals