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Primary Colors
MCA/Universal Pictures


8.0

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
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FILM:

Internet Movie Database

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.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Such a smart and savvy piece of work it encourages us to feel we're eavesdropping on history.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Guilty, deftly orchestrated fun.

Film.com John Hartl

It's as wise and funny and revealing as anything ever created by Mike Nichols and Elaine May.

Newsweek David Ansen

I expected to laugh; I didn't expect to be moved.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Sophisticated and unsentimental political film.

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.

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.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Its palette isn't primary at all: It's full of secondary shadings.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

One the truest-feeling political portraits in years, as well as a fine piece of drama.

Film.com Sean Means

A hilariously entertaining movie.

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.

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.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a winner with flaws.

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.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The result is glib, often funny, sometimes bumpy, and ultimately depressing.

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.

TV Guide Ken Fox

An intelligent and very funny satire about the bloody game of American politics.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A modern immorality tale with a keen, observant edge.

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.

Film Threat Chris Gore

At once entertaining and depressing -- it exposes politics raw.

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.

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.

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.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

A slack, tepid picture stuck in a no man's land between satire and drama.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

An intelligent movie that portrays the mighty without reverence.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

It never really rollicks like a good political satire.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

Underscores everything that was utterly wrong-headed about the original material.

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.

Tony B. gave it a9:
This was one of 1998's best films, a sharp political satire that is both very nasty and very funny. Elaine May has written quite a script, and Mike Nichols has directed an excellent cast, all of whom deliver great portrayals. Special honors go to John Travolta, giving one of his best performances, Emma Thompson and Kathy Bates. Many Clinton haters wanted it to go further than it does, and many Clinton devotees felt it went to far. For me, it was just right.

J. Ryan G. gave it a6:
An endlessly fascinating movie, but not a great one. There is much going on here, much to be entertained by, much to be happy with. But, alas, there is not one thing, not one very simple truth, to arrive at in the end - that is, other than the notion that our leaders are complex (this, after all, would be a truth that is centuries old). A greater film would probe its characters more deeply and come up with a truth more deep.

Pat C. gave it an 8:
Travolta and Thompson are better at playing the Clintons than the Clintons. While this movie exposes them for what they are, it is otherwise as kind to them as can be. It's not that it's inaccurate, but that while being right on the mark it only scratches the surface.

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Primary Colors MCA/Universal Pictures

Primary Colors
MCA/Universal Pictures