Stardom

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It may be the first movie that mirrors, in its very syntax, the ''snap crackle and pop'' narcotic superficiality of the E! channel. I mean that as a compliment.

TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin

Every so often, a movie comes along that is so bad, so unfunny, so incredibly awful that it redefines how you think about film. Stardom is just such a movie.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

What makes it interesting is the story that the viewer must put together, of a model who lives her entire life -- or at least what we see of it -- in front of the camera.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

In Arcand's skilled hands, this sassy assembly comes together to be a comedy, a satire and a character study that's somehow not a bit condescending.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A naughtily funny, skin-deep satire.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

In his observant, swiftly paced Stardom, Arcand does it all with relentless wit, high style, and a suggestion of tragedy.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Denys Arcand has satiric fun with the media's way of taking celebrity culture at face value and nothing but. Eventually, though, the film becomes what it's ridiculing.

TV Guide Ken Fox

For all the film's cleverness -- and it's often very clever -- it's as thin as its heroine.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

This film has so many good ideas, it tends to seem better after you've left the theater. But the mock TV stuff is just too faux to be funny.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A glitzy and shallow satire about shallow people.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Takes us down a familiar path without discovering anything new along the way.

LA Weekly Paul Cullum

With Woody Allen's "Celebrity," Altman's "Prêt-à-Porter" and MTV's "House of Style" predating it by half a decade, this is kind of like clubbing harp seals in a meat locker.

Film.com Robert Horton

What keeps Stardom watchable is Arcand's droll humor.

Mr. Showbiz Larry Terenzi

Through a messy series of news reports, interviews, talk shows, and behind-the-scenes footage, Arcand creates a cinema vérité spoof that's not nearly as penetrating or enjoyable as he thinks.

Film.com John Hartl

Stardom just doesn't have enough anger or conviction to carry it to a satisfying finish.

Variety Brendan Kelly

The irony is that this film about the superficiality of celebrity-crazed Western society is itself somewhat superficial.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The satire is intermittently amusing, but Arcand adds little to the arsenal of standard mockumentary tricks, and the interesting cast doesn't get many interesting things to do.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Stardom makes its metaphor of 15 minutes seem like a lifetime.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

With a few exceptions, most of the laughs in Stardom are cheap...and worse, the ideas beyond platitudinous.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Sitting through this barrage of all-purpose insults aimed at obvious targets was an unenlightening chore.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Tells us nothing we didn't already know, and it tells it over and over and over.