AllMovie

Michael Ritchie's Diggstown is a shaggy dog of a movie. Utterly implausible and full of silliness, it still takes the viewer for a very enjoyable ride. James Woods has center stage here as a con man and he is more than up to the task. The audience can believe he would be capable of dreaming up the outrageous stunt that is the centerpiece of the film. Oliver Platt shines, as always, with his limited screentime, and the always menacing Bruce Dern is, well, menacing. Louis Gossett Jr. is the perfect age and is just physically impressive enough to make the audience buy that he might succeed in an attempt to fight ten guys in succession. The film lacks any of the thematic resonance of Ritchie's superb '70s film, but Diggstown is professionally told and certainly holds interest while its on the screen -- even if it will evaporate from the memory not long after the closing credits finish rolling.