Metacritic reviews

Set It Off is advertised as a thriller about four black women who rob banks. But it's a lot more than that. It creates a portrait of the lives of these women that's so observant and informed; it's like “Waiting to Exhale” with a strong jolt of reality.

Enough does work, and well, to make Set It Off a valuable model for a new kind of girl-pack story: one that’s not just for girls.

The intense heist sequences show a command of thriller dynamics that's right up there with the best of them, but director Gray is equally convincing on the character front, eliciting funny, grounded performances from the four women (Latifah notably refuses to caricature her lesbian role).

What sets this movie apart from the innumerable other entries into the action/caper genre is its social perspective. Set It Off doesn't preach, but you'd have to be blind not to recognize that there's a message here about the kind of desperation that can result from the familiar cycle of poverty, sexism, and racism.

The movie is, ultimately, a fascinating victim of its own ambitions.

You've seen Set It Off several times before featuring male characters: The proven popularity of boy-dominated 'hood movies has made this female variation possible. Just the fact that four worthy African American actresses get decent staring roles gives the story a purpose it wouldn't ordinarily have.

The actresses work hard to give spark to some of the predictable scenes and dialogue in the screenplay by Kate Lanier and Takashi Bufford. Their fine work eclipses the fact that the film gives us very little information about most of them.

Like the characters it presents, this film ends up with dreams it can’t deliver on, but just having the desire to do something different makes it a project worth paying attention to.

The four actresses supply enough humor and heart to light any movie’s fuse, even this cliched retread of Thelma and Louise. Like the characters they play, the sisters deserve better.

Set It Off blends action and urban drama effectively, but at times isn't sure which foot to lead with.