some critics, such as peter travers of "rolling stone", felt certain elements of the script were "preposterous," while the "chicago tribune"s mark caro deemed it a "pretentious b movie." owen gleiberman of "entertainment weekly" made similar criticisms, writing that, "from its inception, "kalifornia"...  throws all dramatic sense out the window," and ultimately described it as a "a film-school thesis gone disastrously wrong." owen mcnally of the "hartford courant", though praising of the performances, wrote: "if you hop aboard this sick, unjoyful ride, you'd better bail out early. unsafe at any speed, this dramatic vehicle goes up in flames, consumed by a lethally defective mix of pomposity and pretension."