Idiots, The

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

With shocking humor and surprising grace, Von Trier creates something unique and memorable.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A highly calculated act of mischief that sounds like a stunt cooked up for Howard Stern's radio show.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Fascinating, obnoxious and poignant.

Mr. Showbiz Richard T. Jameson

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.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Von Trier has assembled a fearless troupe of gifted actors - especially Jorgensen - to explore the outer reaches of human cruelty and vulnerability.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Demonstrates that sadomasochistic streak in von Trier that equates the raw with the experimental.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's interesting - in its own let-it-all-hang-out, shaky-camera way.

TV Guide Ken Fox

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.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

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.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

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.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Von Trier's The Idiots is both lively and juvenile.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Von Trier is far more hypocritical than his straw-figure characters, and he's simply too cynical and insincere to be provocative.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Tries to be daring and iconoclastic but winds up seeming as spoiled and childish as its main characters.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This is thoughtful nihilist provocation at best.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Has nothing on its mind besides the squirming discomfort of its audience, the achievement of which it holds up as a brave political accomplishment.