Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 30 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 55 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
Rate this:
  • 10
  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
  • 0
  • Starring: , ,
  • Summary: What would happen if one of the nation's funniest men became its leading one? This film answers just that question in a comic tale of an entertainer's accidental rise to power. (Universal)
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 30
  2. Negative: 9 out of 30
  1. Man of the Year remains an interesting proposition throughout, and a tale well told.
  2. Reviewed by: Kate Taylor
    As Dobbs's chain-smoking and hard-eyed enabler, a quietly spooky Christopher Walken manages to straddle the genres more effectively, gently toying with the stereotype of the rough-edged showbiz manager.
  3. Reviewed by: Jennifer Frey
    A movie that can be smart-funny and astutely topical. But if what you're expecting is a start-to-finish laugh fest, beware: This picture takes some detours and never really figures out what kind of movie it wants to be.
  4. 50
    It's the damndest thing, watching this light but genial movie self-destruct. It's as if writer-director Barry Levinson set out to sabotage his own film by gradually turning what should have been a minor subplot into the story's main subject.
  5. 40
    But instead of being the hippest kid on the block, this plays like some ranty, paranoid comic thriller. It'd be more fun watching Jimmy Stewart get the beat-down from Claude Rains on the Senate floor; when Mr. Williams goes to Washington, the result is a total snooze.
  7. Reviewed by: Ethan Alter
    The film is laughable when it tries to be dramatic and stone-faced when it strains to be funny. Beyond that, Man of the Year is often so wildly off the mark in its depiction of how elections are run, it's hard to believe that it was directed by the same guy who helmed "Wag the Dog," one of the savviest political films ever made.

See all 30 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 30
  2. Negative: 14 out of 30
  1. MajedM.
    Mar 3, 2007
    Excellent Movie. Hopefully this will make people realize how ignorant there government is getting. Very Funny too.
  2. JohnY.
    Oct 16, 2006
    A solid Robin Williams performance, part comedy, part drama. I find it difficult to listen to reviewers who don't rate the movie they are watching but, instead, rate it compared to how the reviewer thinks it would be if it were differently constructed or played by different actors. Laura Linney again produces magic on the screen with her character study. Expand
  3. Sam
    Mar 19, 2007
    Not one of Williams's best pictures despite an outstanding performance, but with the help of a great supporting cast and some nice suspense sequences, this was a very satisfying movie. Expand
  4. DanielD.
    Oct 13, 2006
    A great film...not really. Very dissapointing no matter how hard you try and enjoy it. Has robin Willams lost his Ms. Doubtfire charm or has he just been in more and more terrible films. First RV, now this. What has he come to? They say all good actors show up in bad movies, but we have to draw the line somewhere. Expand
  5. BillR
    Oct 21, 2006
    The problem with people who vote positively on movies like this, is that they are so used to choking down garbage that they forget what anything really good is. This movie was VERY flawed. This movie was executed very poorly. Expand
  6. BarbP.
    Oct 16, 2006
    Completely misses the audience. The humor is aimed at the dumbest common denominator, and the waffling back and forth between the slapstick-Robin Williams run-on joke and Laura Linney's take on The Net makes your brain hurt. Expand
  7. May 14, 2011
    If they wanted to make a movie about a late night host, Conan O'Brien was the Choice.
    Any movies based on John Stewart and Steven Colbert are
    sure to fail. And this was one of them. A dull, boring, never a single laugh, just a sad and miserable movie. It's just boring. Expand

See all 30 User Reviews


Related Articles

  1. Hail to the Chiefs: Metacritic's Best and Worst President Movies

    Hail to the Chiefs: Metacritic's Best and Worst President Movies Image
    Published: February 12, 2010
    In honor of Presidents' Day Weekend, we elect the best and the worst movies to feature the American president.