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Jakob the Liar
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Entertainment

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jurek Becker (novel)
Peter Kassovitz
Didier Decoin
Directed by: Peter Kassovitz
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 24, 1999
DVD: March 21, 2000
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: France / Hungary / USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for violence and disturbing images
Starring Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, and Liev Schreiber
A story about the astonishing things that happen when despair turns to hope among the residents of this small village in Nazi-occupied Poland. (Columbia Tristar)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Variety Todd McCarthy
A markedly better picture than Roberto Benigni's far more sentimental Oscar collector.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Deserves a place alongside "Life Is Beautiful" and, yes, even "Schindler's List."
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Of course, there's still the Williams schmaltz factor.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
As earnest as the performances are, something seems to be lost in the translation.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
But the best thing about Jakob the Liar is that it's not "Patch Adams at Auschwitz."
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Williams' self-conscious and rather bland performance never comes close to bringing his character to life.
Read Full Review >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."
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
What it isn't ... is a particularly compelling contribution to the impressive and by now enormous collection of Holocaust movies.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
The audience is ready for an unhappy ending -- and Hollywood should have the courage to provide it.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Feels sterile and chilly; the humor -- Yiddish and otherwise -- falls flat, and sadly so does the film.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
An awkwardly executed, tedious and -- a near impossibility for a Holocaust movie -- emotionally uninvolving bore.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
A particularly gross exploitation of the Holocaust for financial gain.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
A trial of cliche, strained optimism, and dire quasi-comedy.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Patterson
Just avoid this ghastly, insulting farrago at all costs.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Amanda E. gave it a 9:
It was very well done! Robin Williams did an awesome job as Jakod. Nice work!!!
Pat C. gave it a 7:
Holocaust and Jesus movies are now accepted. They will and should continue to be made as long as our society will countenance the slightest thread of revisionism. The good ones have one thing in common: The actors seem to believe that if they blow the scene they will be shot or cruicified. Those playing Jewish prisoners in this flick couldn't even convince me their paychecks might be docked. Authenticity can't be faked with tears and hugs and mushy stuff and other diluted devices. When the blood drains from the ashen face of a producer who's film is losing money, that's authenticity. Put it in the film. It need not be life affirming, as long as it affirms something. We must be disturbed and uneasy to understand what those people went through, not buffered. But hey, this film connected with some, and that's important. Who am I to say they have no taste or compassion? I'm not sure I liked Williams in this, but he genuinely tried to pull it off.
Hannah P. gave it a 10:
This was a very heartrending movie. I used about a thousand tissues by the end. You laugh, you cry, all in all it was a beautiful story.
Nuphar R. gave it a 10:
Great movie, very strong.
