67
Metascore
33 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyRobert KoehlerVarietyRobert KoehlerA powerful and creative film.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAs for myself, I think he made it all up and never killed anybody. Having been involved in a weekly television show myself, I know for a melancholy fact that there is just not enough time between tapings to fly off to Helsinki and kill for my government.
- 80Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonConfessions keeps its cards close, and Kaufman is perfectly capable of starving his screenplay to save it, and perfectly happy with being misunderstood.
- 75Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanCharlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanThis fairy-tale quality gives director Clooney, who's making his debut behind the camera, his stylistic clue. He's in perfect sync with writer Kaufman; they treat even the most "serious" scenes like Monty Python routines.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittClooney shows strong filmmaking imagination in his directorial debut, but the movie's driving force is Charlie Kaufman's screenplay, a genre-bending romp that blurs all boundaries between the factual and the fantastical.
- 75Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaAll about the wacky borderlands where reality and invention intersect. But there are no safe demarcations -- no demilitarized zone, no Berlin Wall -- to cue us to which side we're operating in, or that Barris is operating in.
- 75USA TodayClaudia PuigUSA TodayClaudia PuigMay not be a straightforward bio, nor does it offer much in the way of Barris' motivations, but the film is an oddly fascinating depiction of an architect of pop culture.
- 60L.A. WeeklyJohn PowersL.A. WeeklyJohn PowersUltimately just another celebrity bio-pic, and far less trenchant than, say, the more conventional "Auto Focus." For all their whirring ingenuity, Kaufman's scripts require a director who will tether his cleverness to reality.
- 38Baltimore SunMichael SragowBaltimore SunMichael SragowYou won't believe the story director George Clooney and his goofball TV host are trying to sell. Really.
- 30Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranGeorge Clooney's first effort behind the camera was doubtless more stimulating to direct than it will be for audiences to watch.