text: Ty Burr from The Boston Globe saw the film's potential as a "decent heist flick" during the opening robbery scene but felt it devolves into a plotless drag involving sightseeing and female-ogling in the Bahamas. Peter Howell of the Toronto Star gave note of Zbyszewski and Rosenberg's script feeling barebones within its given genre and moving "unsteadily between crime drama and romantic farce", and Ratner's direction matching it in terms of tonal whiplash and coming across like a "tourist infomercial," calling it "one of the most lackadaisical Hollywood projects of the year." Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club criticized Ratner and Zbyszewski for making a "pale revision" of Michael Mann's Heat that sidesteps both the heist and interesting characters for more macho posturing and homophobic humor between its two male leads.
  Entertainment Weeklys Owen Gleiberman gave the film a B− grade, calling it "a knowingly preposterous toy thriller--a sheer escape from consequence." Roger Ebert pointed out the numerous plot machinations and "behavior-circling clichés" amongst the characters throughout the film but gave it credit for accomplishing the type of entertainment it aims to be, despite there being better movie choices for film-goers to check out, saying that "After the Sunset is skillfully made, but it's not necessary […] On the other hand, should you see it, the time will pass pleasantly." James Berardinelli found the film to be "a mess, but [it's] a fun, breezy mess", criticizing the overall heist and weak characterization but gave praise to the quick pacing, three-way chemistry between Brosnan, Hayek and Harrelson, and Dante Spinotti's cinematography for capturing the "natural beauty" of its Caribbean setting, saying "despite not being especially well-written, it nevertheless offers a 100-minute, unpretentious diversion."