| 100 |
New York Post
Lee's incendiary and brilliant new film.
|
| 88 |
Baltimore Sun
Nothing seriously detracts from the film's overall brilliance.
|
| 88 |
Chicago Tribune
Starts out hilarious and then turns very, very grim.
|
| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
Too much is tossed into the ring and the last hour becomes a frantic swell of emotions and ideas, not all of which are exactly on point.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Guaranteed to inspire, antagonize and divide his (Lee's) audience.
|
| 75 |
Christian Science Monitor
It's a unique blend of history and hysteria, and there's no escaping the dead-serious ideas that run beneath its flamboyant surface.
|
| 75 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
It's a film about dumbing down that has the effect of wising up its audience.
|
| 70 |
Washington Post
What the movie lacks in clarity, it makes up for in honesty, toughness, relentlessness and passion.
|
| 70 |
Salon.com
Spike Lee's explosive, near-masterpiece media satire balances between brilliance and incoherence.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Spike Lee has grabbed a tiger by the tail in his scabrously risky new comedy, Bamboozled. The wonder is how long he succeeds in hanging on.
|
| 63 |
San Francisco Examiner
Collapses under its own contempt.
|
| 63 |
Boston Globe
Ends with a fizzle, not a bang.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
This is less a movie than a lecture. Perhaps Lee simply should have made a documentary.
|
| 60 |
TNT RoughCut
By the end, we simply have no idea what he (Lee) feels or what the film is really about. And we are too worn out to care.
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
Nothing Lee has done is as flashy or as mucked up as Bamboozled.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
On both technical and conceptual levels, Bamboozled is a movie that will leave Spike Lee fans bewildered.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Angry, potentially offensive movie.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
It's the angriest film an unfailingly angry filmmaker has yet made, skewering almost everyone in it, both black and white.
|
| 50 |
Film.com
Infuriating on almost every conceivable level.
|
| 50 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's an unpleasant experience, and a long one, that gets more morose and melodramatic as it goes along.
|
| 50 |
Dallas Observer
Lee's new racial satire starts out strong but loses its way.
|
| 50 |
Rolling Stone
A frustratingly uneven satire with undeniably sharp teeth, isn't afraid to shoot comic darts at its targets until blood is drawn.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Spike Lee misjudged his material and audience. He doesn't find a successful way to express his feelings, angers and satirical points.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
Primary story line is clumsy and badly acted. But he (Lee) reminds you that movies have power, that they matter, and for a few brilliant moments, Bamboozled matters more than any other American movie this year.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Occasionally biting but excessively melodramatic.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
Spike Lee lost his nerve -- there are moments here, too, when it also seems like he lost his sense.
|
| 38 |
Charlotte Observer
The film's as chaotic and heavy-handed as "Summer of Sam" without the same sense of harsh reality.
|
| 38 |
New York Daily News
This is the kind of misfire that can take everyone down with it. It's not just bad, it's mean-bad.
|
| 27 |
Mr. Showbiz
If Lee's intention was to cement our loathing of blackface comedy, he's succeeded all too well.
|
| 20 |
Slate
One of the least entertaining satires ever made.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
With conceptual misfires like this, Lee's best work recedes even more swiftly into the past.
|
| 0 |
Chicago Reader
Angry, fitfully provocative mess.
|
