American Grindhouse seems to miss the irony of what the recent proliferation of faux-exploitation films actually partially represents.

In its academic approach, American Grindhouse is like sex ed: the lecture gets tedious, but it's worth sitting through for the pictures.

Nitpicky enough to please film-history nerds but lively in a way that should tickle the merely curious.

American Grindhouse has a host full of key players to fill out the story, but at only 82 minutes, the film doesn't have time to dawdle on each interesting individual.