Edtv
MCA/Universal Pictures | Release Date: March 26, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
12
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The results are comical and unexpected -- and just a bit eerie. Read full review
75
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
Artful it's not. But it's awfully affable. [26 March 1999, Life, p.9E]
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
EDtv is precisely the kind of brisk, straightforward, amiable and accessible material that shows Howard’s skills to advantage. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Howard has a wonderful touch with actors, and almost all of them here have their moments. [26 March 1999, Friday, p.A]
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The screenplay, by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, based on a French film, has enough sharp gags and plot twists to sustain it, with an ending that manages to be nice. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Ron Howard's version is--no surprise--a funny, audience-friendly entertainment that's ultimately less scathing satire than conventional Hollywood romantic comedy outfitted in trendy new clothes. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
With down-to-earth comic instincts, it simply invests its story with a loud ring of truth. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The fact that Ed's life has been channeled into entertainment never achieves much tension or comic zest. That's because Howard thinks in cookie-cutter ''situations'' to begin with. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
No one will ever confuse Ron Howard with Robert Altman. So, instead of a potentially hilarious satire, we're left with, as one character in the film puts it, "a joyous celebration of boobery." Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I enjoyed a lot of the movie in a relaxed sort of fashion; it's not essential or original in the way "The Truman Show'' was, and it hasn't done any really hard thinking about the ways we interact with TV. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
Howard's film, like McConaughey's performance, is unassuming, ingratiating and a little rough around the edges. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Like the television medium it genially satirizes, EDtv is a grab bag that's both amusing and frustrating. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Bleach out the colors, backdate the wardrobes, insert Gary Cooper and Rosalind Russell and you've got one of Frank Capra's lesser films. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Neither a revelation nor a total wash, EDtv is instead solid comic filmmaking. I just can't help but think it could have been so much more. Read full review
50
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
The laserdisc of media movies - it plays fine, but it's clunky and cumbersome. Read full review
50
Film ThreatAnthony Miele
It's the outstanding performance from Martin Landau that really seems to hold your interest, as well as hold the film together. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineSandra Contreras
Like its star, Howard's movie is affable, but has limited range. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Its screenplay veers in highly questionable directions before reaching a mean-spirited climax that outweighs Ron Howard's workmanlike filmmaking and the contributions of a star-powered cast. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
Howard and his writers are so in love with their own hip self-consciousness that it's a wonder they don't feature film critics discussing their movie. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A certain staleness hangs over the proceedings despite the best efforts of the cast and the fun-minded creative team. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The movie's too slick and obvious about its intentions. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAmy Taubin
It's a lot of plot but none of it is particularly funny or compelling. What keeps the film chugging along and also gives it a depressive aftertaste is a middle-aged male sexual anxiety subtext that intermittently sputters to the surface. Read full review
37
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Satire in a blanket of bland. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
I've never been sold on this anti-TV thesis. It's snooty. It assumes we in the audience have seen the light denied the lower orders. Invariably, the people in these movies who are rendered blotto by the tube are dingbat common folk. EDtv takes this notion to a new low. Read full review
30
Dallas ObserverMichael Sragow
By the end the movie audience, like the electorate, is less satisfied than strung-out and exhausted. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
But it's also Howard's and his audience's misfortune that a good time can be had by all only if nothing of substance gets said. Read full review
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