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The Idiots
Metascore
47 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 15
  3. Negative: 3 out of 15
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  1. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    80
    With shocking humor and surprising grace, Von Trier creates something unique and memorable.
    All this critic's reviews
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Stack
    75
    Fascinating, obnoxious and poignant.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    A highly calculated act of mischief that sounds like a stunt cooked up for Howard Stern's radio show.
  4. Mr. Showbiz
    Reviewed by: Richard T. Jameson
    72
    Shot on location, handheld camera, available light, no props, no music, no filters, etc. We may wonder, "What are we doing here?" But we won't look away.
    All this publication's reviews
  5. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    63
    It's interesting - in its own let-it-all-hang-out, shaky-camera way.
    All this critic's reviews
  6. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    63
    Demonstrates that sadomasochistic streak in von Trier that equates the raw with the experimental.
  7. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    63
    Von Trier has assembled a fearless troupe of gifted actors - especially Jorgensen - to explore the outer reaches of human cruelty and vulnerability.
    All this critic's reviews
  8. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    60
    It's overtly about provocation, set in a tony Danish suburb where a group of men and women living commune-style in an empty house are discovering their "inner idiots" by pretending to be developmentally challenged.
  9. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Jay Carr
    50
    Von Trier's The Idiots is both lively and juvenile.
    All this critic's reviews
  10. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    50
    Becomes guilty of the very prejudice that his film has so obviously tried to subvert. It's too bad -- the rest of it is hilarious.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    50
    The group's intent is not to insult those physically or mentally challenged in any manner of degree but, rather, to disturb middle-class types as much as they possibly can.
  12. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    42
    Von Trier is far more hypocritical than his straw-figure characters, and he's simply too cynical and insincere to be provocative.
  13. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    25
    Tries to be daring and iconoclastic but winds up seeming as spoiled and childish as its main characters.
  14. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    20
    This is thoughtful nihilist provocation at best.
  15. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    10
    Has nothing on its mind besides the squirming discomfort of its audience, the achievement of which it holds up as a brave political accomplishment.
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