Bulworth
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment | Release Date: May 19, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Beatty has fashioned a hilarious morality tale that delivers a surprisingly potent, angry message beneath the laughs. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Warren Beatty sounds off angrily and shrewdly about politics, delivering what is possibly his best film and certainly his funniest and livliest. Read full review
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An uncommonly smart, sharp and irreverent American picture. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
This political satire that's as fresh and exhilarating as anything we've seen come out of Hollywood in quite some time. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Warren Beatty's uproariously rude Bulworth is 90% triumph. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
His movie isn't a surgical attack at this problem and that; it's a cluster bomb intended to reap destruction, make a mess and jolt all who see it to react. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It has the audacity that “Primary Colors” should have displayed, but was afraid to. Bulworth is willing to openly offend to get its point across. That's something that “Primary Colors” was nervous about doing. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsDave Kehr
A brilliant and astounding black comedy. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Warren Beatty's Bulworth made me laugh -- and wince. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Beatty's contribution to the ranks of recent political satire is bold, merciless and frequently very funny, and his performance is just plain fearless. Read full review
80
Mr. ShowbizRichard T. Jameson
In a season of mechanized spectacle and brain-dead comedies, Bulworth is a brave and bracing exception.
80
Film.comTed Fry
There are extreme moments that lurch between inspired absurdity and near failure -- but as a ballsy movie about human politics with no correctness in sight, it's a triumph. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
The film has a kamikaze comic spirit that's spectacularly disarming. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's daring, deliberately offensive and, for a comedy, it has far more ideas in it than actual laughs. Read full review
80
Film ThreatChris Gore
Bulworth has the distinction of being the only summer movie that might make you think and for that, it definitely deserves ample praise. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
A dizzying mixture of the sophisticated and the naive, the deft and the clumsy, Bulworth is overstuffed, excessive, erratic -- and essential. Read full review
80
Film.comJohn Hartl
There are some cheap shots, and there's an argument to be made about whether the film is sending up stereotypes or simply perpetuating them. But for every dubious moment, there are plenty that connect. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
This is a great liberal movie, which is to say, it will be loved most passionately by great liberals, and despised by the conservatives it contemptuously fails to notice. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
Its best moments come from witnessing the Senator's inspired unraveling, not from watching where it will end. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Frequently awkward, peppered with moments that make you shake your head, Bulworth's singular nature makes it a film that can't be shrugged off. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Beatty himself is high wattage, revved up, sharp in his comic timing, gleaming with eagerness to put his film across. As director, he carries on from where he left off in “Reds;” he is sure and fluent, and occasionally he tips his hat to the past. [June 8, 1998]
70
Film.comTom Keogh
One can be forgiven for leaving the theater feeling a modicum of hope, and for that we owe Warren Beatty something. Read full review
70
New Times (L.A.)Peter Rainer
With all its hip-hop and jive, Bulworth may seem new-style -- but actually it's proffering a populism that Frank Capra would have loved. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
To his credit, Beatty has designed Bulworth along the classic lines of Shakespeare's Fool -- the antic truth-speaker who has the ear of the court. Read full review
60
Film.comRobert Horton
Bulworth shoots along with great vigor, and its non-politically correct jabs are occasionally exhilarating. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
It's a tease of a satire that never really follows through on its audacious premise. Read full review
50
SalonCharles Taylor
As a movie, it's a disaster. As political speech, it's imprecise, shrill and sometimes clichéd, but it's also alive. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerBarbara Shulgasser
The movie hits the ground running, so Beatty the actor is forced to go all out from the start. Read full review
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