Head of State
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: March 28, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
16
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Rock and Mac exult in the kind of highly charged verbal and physical antics that are star-turn rewards for performers currently at the tops of their games. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Chris Rock gets to direct himself, and as a result is finally starring in a laugh-out-loud funny movie. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An imperfect movie, but not a boring one and not lacking in intelligence. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The gags come fast and furious, and though some are a little stale, Rock and cowriter Ali LeRoi strive for wit over crudity. Read full review
70
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Not the sharpest political humor I've ever heard, but it gets my vote for the stupidest fun I've had in a long time. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
When Rock hits he's dangerously funny. If he didn't try so hard to be liked, he'd be even more dangerous. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The key term here is "fairy tale," because, although the movie occasionally tries for dramatic moments, they're overplayed, undercooked, and divorced from reality. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
In Head of State, Rock may be verging on becoming a heart-warmer. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This is silliness of such a special grade, performed with such zest, that it makes you forgive and even forget the movie's foolishness and borderline incoherence.
50
Film ThreatRory L. Aronsky
After all is said and done, it seems like the jokes during the end credits are the tow truck of the movie, the engine quitting after the halfway point. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Chris Rock was busy directing, producing, co-writing and starring in this light comedy. Given his hilarious stand-up routines, one wishes he had spent a little more time on the script. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Pleasing and occasionally very funny movie that maintains a mild but consistent hold on its audience. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A tepid amalgam of other, similarly themed movies. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Gets better -- more rambunctiously astute -- as it goes, and its comic engine sputters into fitful life when Bernie Mac arrives on the scene. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
You can see Rock hedging his bets right from the opening frames. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Doesn't seem directed at all; you half expect the actors to crash into each other. Still, give me the attempted satire of Head of State over the racial stereotyping of "Bringing Down the House" anyday. You can feel a mind at work when you watch Rock. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Rock can't set up a decent-looking shot, and he doesn't care about niceties such as character development and all that narrative downtime in between jokes. But he nonetheless wrings biting humor from serious issues with the sort of ferocity that made Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce men of respect as well as comedy. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Right now, this goofy film is the best candidate for mindless, enjoyable laughs. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
I'd like Head of State better if it had less cartoonish violence, and if its gags weren't so predictable. Rock is in fine comic form, though, and his directing debut shows real promise. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Offers a smattering of big laughs and an overall tone of ramshackle likability, but considering Rock's talent and the film's potential for smart satire, Head Of State registers as a somewhat wasted opportunity. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
Pandering, stiffly acted and brimming with awkward (if progressive) political posturing, Rock's films attempt to filter old Hollywood formula through a hip-hop sensibility. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Toothless satire punctuated by the occasional biting gag. Read full review
40
VarietyScott Foundas
So beneath the considerable talents of its star, Chris Rock, it's dismaying to note Rock is also the movie's director, producer and co-scenarist. Not unlike Richard Pryor a generation ago, Rock has yet to land a movie vehicle that captures the sparky energy and subversive bent of his excellent stand-up performances. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Shows Rock suffering from premature Robin Williams syndrome. He's yet to express the full ferocity of his comic talent on the screen and he's already doing penance by going for the warm and fuzzy. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
The difference between Head of State and a good comedy is like the difference between Chris Rock and a real actor. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Satire's funniest when it's true, but Rock exaggerates and mistimes too many jokes. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianChris Hewitt
Opens with a statement that Hillary Clinton, Bob Dole and Al Sharpton are not in the movie. Also not in the movie: laughs. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
Though the comedy falls short of a debacle -- which is what such egocentric projects tend to be -- it isn't as sharp, fast or funny as Rock's stand-up routines. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
There’s only the faintest glimmer of Rock’s talent for piercingly funny humor here, a shortcoming for which the comic can only blame himself, given that he also produced and directed the movie. Read full review
30
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The very confusion that has made him (Rock) so unpredictable and funny onstage makes this on-screen exploration of contemporary racial mythologies curiously tentative and unfocused. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
The sloppily shot, crudely edited Head of State fails as satire, for starters, because of its utter disconnect from any kind of reality. Read full review
20
SalonCharles Taylor
An excruciatingly amateurish production. Read full review
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