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92
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85
Savages, The
84
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
83
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
81
Juno
81
Bamako
78
Starting Out in the Evening
77
Nanking
74
Orphanage, The
71
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
71
Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
70
Lars and the Real Girl
69
Charlie Wilson's War
68
Business of Being Born, The
68
Delirious
68
War Dance
65
Great Debaters, The
64
Cloverfield
63
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
63
11th Hour, The
63
Hannah Takes the Stairs
60
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
57
Romulus, My Father
57
Teeth
55
Resurrecting the Champ
53
Music Within
52
Hollywood Dreams
51
Golden Compass, The
49
Good Night, The
47
Bella
47
Lions for Lambs
47
27 Dresses
46
Reservation Road
44
Nina's Heavenly Delights
43
Youth Without Youth
43
Final Season, The
41
Mad Money
41
First Sunday
39
Alvin and the Chipmunks
39
P.S. I Love You
38
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
37
P2
32
Untraceable
30
Over Her Dead Body
30
Cover
29
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
24
One Missed Call
15
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
7
Hottie and the Nottie, The
xx
Moondance Alexander
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Primary Colors
MCA/Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong language and sexual references
Starring
John Travolta,
Emma Thompson,
Billy Bob Thornton,
Kathy Bates,
Adrian Lester,
Maura Tierney,
Larry Hagman,
and
Diane Ladd
John Travolta leads an all-star cast on a wild race to the presidency in this savagely funny comedy. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Elaine May
Joe Klein (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Mike Nichols
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: December 1, 1998
Video: May 30, 2000
Theatrical: March 20, 1998
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
143 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
France / Germany / Japan / UK / USA |

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...
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It's a superb film -- funny, insightful and very wise about the realities of political life.

100
USA Today
Jack Garner
Perhaps Nichols and May's greatest accomplishment is capturing perfectly on film the mysterious, complex, compromised relationship the public has with today's political leaders.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Such a smart and savvy piece of work it encourages us to feel we're eavesdropping on history.

90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Guilty, deftly orchestrated fun.

90
Film.com
John Hartl
It's as wise and funny and revealing as anything ever created by Mike Nichols and Elaine May.
90
Newsweek
David Ansen
I expected to laugh; I didn't expect to be moved.

88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Sophisticated and unsentimental political film.

80
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Whatever else it may or may not be, Primary Colors is first and last a mainstream Hollywood entertainment. And that means that viewers looking for engagement with political issues are bound to be disappointed.

80
Time
Richard Corliss
Nichols and his once and current partner, screenwriter Elaine May, can make a funny, knowing, ultimately judicious film from the deliciously satyric satire.

80
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Its palette isn't primary at all: It's full of secondary shadings.

80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
One the truest-feeling political portraits in years, as well as a fine piece of drama.

80
Film.com
Sean Means
A hilariously entertaining movie.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
One of those thrilling confluences in pop culture that rewards audiences for thinking the worst about politicians and the best about movie stars.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Striking an excellent balance between wry cultural critique and crisp entertainment value, the picture is as smart and funny as any comedy-drama in recent memory.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's a winner with flaws.

70
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
It's a movie struggling with its own identity crisis, and with the obvious constraints created by its subject matter.

70
The New Republic
Stanley Kauffmann
The result is glib, often funny, sometimes bumpy, and ultimately depressing.

70
New York Magazine
David Denby
This entertaining but rather peculiar movie asks extraordinary questions, and I wish it were better equipped to give the answers.

70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
An intelligent and very funny satire about the bloody game of American politics.

70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
A modern immorality tale with a keen, observant edge.

70
Film.com
Tom Keogh
As with Bill Clinton himself, Primary Colors forces one to take the disappointing with the good, the letdown with the promise, the compromises with the hope.
70
Film Threat
Chris Gore
At once entertaining and depressing -- it exposes politics raw.

70
Film.com
Robert Horton
Primary Colors is by turns hugely entertaining and resoundingly square, beginning as a raucous black comedy about political mechanics and ending as a sober-sided morality tale.
63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Joe Klein's novel -- is a cynical satire of life on the campaign trail. It's harsh, blistering, and possesses an edge that the film, a warmhearted comedy/drama, lacks.

60
New Times (L.A.)
Peter Rainer
Primary Colors lacks the buzz and crackle of observed experience; you never feel like you've been plunged into the workings of a real campaign. It's a sham movie about a sham world.

60
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
A slack, tepid picture stuck in a no man's land between satire and drama.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
An intelligent movie that portrays the mighty without reverence.

50
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
It never really rollicks like a good political satire.

25
San Francisco Examiner
Barbara Shulgasser
Underscores everything that was utterly wrong-headed about the original material.

10
Slate
David Edelstein
I found it so oppressively smug that I had to get up and pace the aisles three or four times, and I'd have bolted if I hadn't been duty bound to stick it out.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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