Man of the Year 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The second half of Man of the Year bears practically no relation to the irreverent comedy the movie's trailer sells you -- much like a politician who doesn't keep any of the promises that lured you to vote for him. Read more

Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News: Man of the Year starts out funny -- at least that's the intention -- and then morphs into a kind of paranoid thriller. Neither one of the movie's split personalities is particularly good. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Barry Levinson's Man of the Year squanders a promising premise; it's ultimately overlong, underwritten and strangely unfunny. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Levinson has written and directed in many genres. But rarely has he made a film as indecisive and diffident as Man of the Year. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Mainly it's a shambles, though for once Williams gets to do what he's best at (his stand-up shtick), and the absurd story, no matter how carelessly assembled, keeps moving. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A few observations about the hollowness of party politics, plus Robin Williams doing lots of funny shtick as a Jon Stewart-like comic running for president, have been thrown together with low regard for logic or consistent tone. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: A surprisingly complex and dark satire that skewers the media as well as the political process. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The new Robin Williams comedy Man of the Year is the sort of thing you almost feel sorry for. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: [Man of the Year] ends up feeling as phony the process it so desperately wants to skewer. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Though Williams can still make us laugh, Man of the Year doesn't deserve your vote. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Man of the Year has to be one of the most frustrating dropped balls in recent multiplex memory. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: [Barry] Levinson has written and directed in many genres. But rarely has he made a film as indecisive and diffident as Man of the Year. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Man of the Year isn't Movie of the Year. It might have been an ironic condemnation of electoral fraud and the malignant sway of corporate profits. But for a while, anyway, it had my vote. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: [Director] Levinson seems to be torn between making a political jest and a suspense thriller. Neither works. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: There's a Preston Sturges lesson in Man of the Year: Entertaining folks is its own civic duty. At times, making citizens laugh (and think) might be the most honorable profession of all. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Man of the Year is a well-intentioned mess, a dated, yuk-it-up sloppy civics lesson with such a lack of conviction that it backs away from the very questions it poses. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Robin Williams would never stand a chance, either as a presidential candidate or as a TV talk-show comic, a major drawback in a what-if scenario so self-congratulatory and smug. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: No one will mistake Man of the Year for movie of the year, but it says some things worth being said without the usual straight face. Read more

Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News: At a time when politicians are most in question, [director] Levinson feels no qualms about depicting the process as a hilarious and yet dangerous farce. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Man of the Year sets its audience up to ponder the unthinkable, loses its resolve and congeals into reassuring kitsch. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Only in filmmaking does one very good idea plus another very good idea sometimes add up to one less-than-great picture. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: A few moments do not make a new Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Frank Capra can continue to rest in peace. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a nearly tone-deaf satire of American politics and the culture of celebrity, a comedy without enough laughs, a satire without enough bite. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Man of the Year makes telling points and has a lot to say, but it loses its voice along with its consistency around the mid-way point, and that will likely make it an also-ran in the box office race. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: It's a comedy, a political thriller, a love story: Barry Levinson's Man of the Year tries to be all things to all people and fails on every count -- a little like the generic, ineffectual politicians it's pretending to excoriate. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A genre-less, imaginative riff by an intelligent filmmaker on the state of the country. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: Williams' scene as Dobbs debating his presidential opponents alone is worth the price of admission to this film. It is laugh-out-loud hysterical. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: Man of the Year is a moderately funny little movie that isn't pointed enough to successfully skewer its political targets. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: An awkward mix of standard genres that doesn't give us what we desperately need in this increasingly desperate political season -- a black and snarling assault on our imbecile status quo. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: When great premises go wrong, the result is movies like Man of the Year. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: Pic eventually overcomes an awkward start and turns into a satisfying candidate for the disposable movie dollar with a story that stays on your mind. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: In short, it would have been great if it had stopped, oh, 12 minutes in. Read more

Jennifer Frey, Washington Post: Man of the Year is a movie that can be smart-funny and astutely topical. Read more