Edukators, The

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

That rare beast, a terrific movie that boasts intelligent wit, expert storytelling, delightful characters and grown-up dialogue plus suspense and a wicked surprise ending.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

For a film that points out so much wrong with German society and shows such dubious, dangerous behavior, it leaves the audience with high spirits and a sense of crazy exhilaration.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A fluid and gripping drama from Germany (it has the design of a thriller and the mood of a spontaneous, whirling-camera character study).

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

A sweet, funny and gripping romantic adventure, it's about the limitations of political activism in this day and age, and what happens when your girlfriend and your best friend fall in love.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Uncommonly smart and interesting.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

A slyly effective thriller and of a deft comedy of romantic confusion. Whatever its shortcomings as a consideration of globalization and its discontents, The Edukators succeeds brilliantly in telling the story of a man who falls in love with his best buddy's girlfriend and doesn't know what to do about it.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Unpredictable and hugely entertaining.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

An engaging entertainment that packages its thought-provoking ideas in a combination of political thriller, comic adventure and romantic triangle.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

What makes the film so affecting, however, is its matter-of-fact evocation of character. Each person in the four-character cast is vivid and specific and believable.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A deft, entertaining story that mixes menace with charm and satire with seriousness.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Sticking it to the man, German-style.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

If you can look beyond the simple-minded Socratic political discourse, The Edukators reveals itself as warm, humane and sad, a movie that genuinely wants you to think about how idealism eventually collides with human frailty, and about what upstarts and sell-outs might teach one another.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It's an action movie that's also an intellectual-action flick.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

You can sympathize with both sides in their ideological battle, which ends in a most unexpected way.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a rare film that gets smarter as it goes along, injecting a satisfying dash of pragmatism every time it seems ready to slip into either unearned idealism or cynical fatalism.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

There's an evenhanded humanism flowing through The Edukators that may strike doctrinaire viewers on either side of the divide as mushy, but it's tough enough for the rest of us to chew on for a long time.

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

Though the story drags for the first hour, this becomes a solid character study once the principals arrive at their hiding place.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

There is certainly a trill of suspense to be had from these ideological heists, but Weingartner’s movie is never quite as keen-edged as it hopes or needs to be.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Unlike in, say, "Fight Club," director Hans Weingartner does not hedge his bets on the notion of whether simple-minded anarchy is any better than societal conformity -- his heart is with the Edukators, period.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Unless you're the sort who has a Che Guevara T-shirt tucked away somewhere in your closet, the needlessly long The Edukators wears out its welcome.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Perhaps the harshest criticism of the new German film The Edukators is that it doesn't make you feel any better edukated.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The dialogue between the captive and the captors gets a little didactic, and the ending is as contrived as it is cynical. Weingartner obviously has more in common with the rich man than the kids.

Variety David Rooney

Ambling drama shows an exasperating lack of economy and a weakness for diatribe dialogue, but becomes progressively more involving after a laborious start.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

The Edukators smiles indulgently as the kids rage belatedly against the dying of the SDS light.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

It could have been something substantial.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

The film's daring, honest ending helps redeem the uneven drama, but the road there may occasionally try the patience of even the most sympathetic armchair revolutionaries.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

Put simply, this second feature by the young Austrian director Hans Weingartner is a put-on -- a glib anti-capitalist rant in which the rhetoric rarely rises above the you-too-can-save-a-child-for-less-than-the-price-of-coffee level.

Film Threat Heidi Martinuzzi

The film begs for more action, thrills, and jokes, or more dramatic and painful revelations. What we get is an in-between mash of romantic ideals, a botched kidnapping, and some very good time wasted.