Primary Colors
Universal Pictures | Release Date: March 20, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
4
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's a superb film -- funny, insightful and very wise about the realities of political life. Read full review
100
USA TodayJack 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. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Guilty, deftly orchestrated fun. Read full review
90
Film.comJohn Hartl
It's as wise and funny and revealing as anything ever created by Mike Nichols and Elaine May.
90
NewsweekDavid Ansen
I expected to laugh; I didn't expect to be moved. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Such a smart and savvy piece of work it encourages us to feel we're eavesdropping on history. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Sophisticated and unsentimental political film. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Its palette isn't primary at all: It's full of secondary shadings. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
One the truest-feeling political portraits in years, as well as a fine piece of drama. Read full review
80
Film.comSean Means
A hilariously entertaining movie.
80
TimeRichard Corliss
Nichols and his once and current partner, screenwriter Elaine May, can make a funny, knowing, ultimately judicious film from the deliciously satyric satire. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan 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. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's a winner with flaws. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
One of those thrilling confluences in pop culture that rewards audiences for thinking the worst about politicians and the best about movie stars. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid 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. Read full review
70
The New York TimesElvis Mitchell
It's a movie struggling with its own identity crisis, and with the obvious constraints created by its subject matter. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The result is glib, often funny, sometimes bumpy, and ultimately depressing. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Denby
This entertaining but rather peculiar movie asks extraordinary questions, and I wish it were better equipped to give the answers. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
An intelligent and very funny satire about the bloody game of American politics. Read full review
70
Film.comRobert 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.
70
Film ThreatChris Gore
At once entertaining and depressing -- it exposes politics raw. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A modern immorality tale with a keen, observant edge. Read full review
70
Film.comTom 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.
63
ReelViewsJames 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. Read full review
60
SalonCharles Taylor
A slack, tepid picture stuck in a no man's land between satire and drama. Read full review
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. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
An intelligent movie that portrays the mighty without reverence. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
It never really rollicks like a good political satire. Read full review
25
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
Underscores everything that was utterly wrong-headed about the original material. Read full review
10
SlateDavid 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. Read full review
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