Jakob the Liar

Variety Todd McCarthy

A markedly better picture than Roberto Benigni's far more sentimental Oscar collector.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Deserves a place alongside "Life Is Beautiful" and, yes, even "Schindler's List."

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Of course, there's still the Williams schmaltz factor.

Portland Oregonian Diana Abu-Jaber

Soggy.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

As earnest as the performances are, something seems to be lost in the translation.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

But the best thing about Jakob the Liar is that it's not "Patch Adams at Auschwitz."

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I prefer "Life Is Beautiful," which is clearly a fantasy, to Jakob the Liar, which is just as contrived and manipulative but pretends it is not.

Miami Herald Curtis Morgan

Flat and forced, Jakob the Liar aspires to be a poignant parable about the power of hope but instead uses one of humanity's greatest tragedies for trite melodrama.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

More altruistic would be if Williams stopped torturing us with weepy endearments so he could look for that complex clown who used to mug just for laughs.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Williams' self-conscious and rather bland performance never comes close to bringing his character to life.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

I never lost awareness that I was watching actors speaking lines, not real people --a problem I didn't have in the more unreal "Life Is Beautiful."

USA Today Mike Clark

What it isn't ... is a particularly compelling contribution to the impressive and by now enormous collection of Holocaust movies.

Film.com Sean Means

The audience is ready for an unhappy ending -- and Hollywood should have the courage to provide it.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Pales in comparison to the controversial "Life Is Beautiful"--a more provocative fiction, if only because it's even less realist.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

Alternates between bumbling group antics and strained poignancy...anticipates all laughter and emotion in ways that make it its own worst enemy.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

The supposedly funny quips and shrugs that fill Jakob the Liar are tepid at best and embarrassingly shticky at worst. Some are simply in bad taste.

Film.com Robert Horton

Even on its own terms, it stays sluggish.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It begins with a stale Hitler joke and ends with a miraculous quick-save that demonstrates just how poorly the Holocaust is served by the life-affirming requirements of Hollywood features.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Feels sterile and chilly; the humor -- Yiddish and otherwise -- falls flat, and sadly so does the film.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

An awkwardly executed, tedious and -- a near impossibility for a Holocaust movie -- emotionally uninvolving bore.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

A particularly gross exploitation of the Holocaust for financial gain.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The self-congratulatory histrionics of Williams, lower lip trembling as he triumphs over torture in the name of the human spirit, represents a trend in Hollywood to make accessible melodrama out of unspeakable tragedy.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The latest in what feels like an endless string of movies ... in which the actor's parts have ruinously overdosed on sentimentality and schmaltz at the expense of humor and even sanity.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

A trial of cliche, strained optimism, and dire quasi-comedy.

LA Weekly John Patterson

Just avoid this ghastly, insulting farrago at all costs.