The Humbling 2014

Critics score:
50 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Maybe the best thing Al Pacino has done has done this century Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Be forewarned: It is dreadful. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Uneven but captivating. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: The Humbling is interesting only in how it fits into the filmography of its major talents. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: "The Humbling" is not quite a renaissance, but the scrappy effort sizzles with wit and energy more often than it falters. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: All of the actors are at their comic peak. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: Once Pacino is surrounded by other characters, the comedy comes thick and fast and the material begins to come together in an absurd sort of way. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: If you can adjust to the film's uneven rhythms and often illusory vibe, there's a treasure trove of off-kilter humor, affecting pathos and first-class acting to be savored. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: "The Humbling" reveals an ominous gulf between the director and his theme ... Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: With all the talent on tap - including screenwriter Buck Henry, who worked with Michal Zebede to adapt Philip Roth's 2009 novel - you'd think we'd get something better than this outdated indulgence. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The movie is too shrewd to qualify as a jeremiad, but underneath the comedy are boiling undercurrents of anger and despair. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: Pacino gives a refreshingly quiet and understated performance with poignant moments of vulnerability. It is the most consistent factor in a film that is frustratingly inconsistent. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This is Pacino's best film performance in years. In playing an actor who has lost the art of fooling himself, he reveals with mordant wit the terrors of diminished capacity. To watch him do it is a master class. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: At times, "The Humbling" seems as though it's hovering in place, with little forward movement or variation. It is not at all times compelling, and sometimes it's dull. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: An unusually charming dark comedy about an actor teetering on the edges of reality, fantasy and career. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Another Roth older man-younger woman story, and this one feels shockingly out-of-date, from its retro ideas about lesbians and trans people to the two-dimensional vampire that the talented Gerwig is being forced to play. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: The only upside here is the acting... The rest is an irredeemable mess. Read more

Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun: If you liked Birdman, you also might like seeing Al Pacino playing a delusional, indeed hallucinatory, actor trying to save his soul and his onstage career in the sort-of-comedy The Humbling. Or you might not. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Levinson and Pacino's willingness to explore the creakier end of life isn't a drawback; it's what gives The Humbling its bittersweet vitality. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Pacino in low doses can be fulsome, and this is 10,000 cc's of super-concentrated Al ... Read more