Holy Man
Touchstone Home Video | Release Date: October 9, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
9
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Goldblum and Murphy outdo each other in their odd roles, each minimizing his tendency toward shtick and giving a convincing dramatic performance. Read full review
80
NewsweekJack Kroll
It's harmless fun, but it underutilizes Murphy, who's largely reduced to doing virtuoso variations on his iconic smile. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A pleasant piece of commercial filmmaking, but as a satirical comedy, it's devoid of laughs and insight. Read full review
70
VarietyLeonard Klady
Complex issues of ambition and consumerism taken to televangelic levels aren't truly addressed or resolved but simply tied up in a box with the message that love conquers all. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
Tom Schulman's script is on the sloppy side and offers few surprises; still, it's not entirely bereft of laughs. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
For all the funny possibilities of Mr. Murphy's neat transformation here, the latest comedy from Stephen Herek ("Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," "The Mighty Ducks") doesn't know what to do with him. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyRon Stringer
What's most disturbing about this ineptly scripted, utterly implausible (and at the same time curiously likable) comedy of sin and redemption in TV's home-shopping universe is how close a committed cast and a talented director (Stephen Herek, late of Mr. Holland's Opus) come to pulling it off, to making us feel good about the 110 minutes or so we've just pissed away. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A love story about two people with no apparent chemistry, whose lives are changed by a stranger who remains an uninteresting enigma. No wonder it just sits there on the screen. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The result is a poorly-focused motion picture characterized by limp satire and capped off by a final fifteen minutes that could send half of the audience into sugar shock. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Holy Man sure isn't raucous; instead, in the main, it's just quietly unamusing. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
There just aren't many laughs in this slack dramedy, and what yuks there are are fairly low-wattage. Read full review
40
EmpireCatherine Scroop
By turns wry and sarcastic, the film does a good job ridiculing the home shopping phenomenon in general and the audience that supports it, but lets itself down with occasional lapses into lame slapstick, dubious plot twists and the kind of soap opera-isms it elsewhere decries. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The movie's tone fluctuates wildly, suggesting that no one was exactly sure what kind of movie they were making. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
What a waste of a great comedian. What demented casting. Read full review
25
San Francisco ExaminerG. Allen Johnson
It's also troublesome that Murphy, a generally charismatic actor, is downright dull here. He and Goldblum are curiously flat in their line readings; they don't seem convinced by the story they're asked to act out, and with good reason. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Director Stephen Herek (Mr. Holland's Opus) and screenwriter Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society) offer no clues, no challenges, nothing to provoke the smallest bubble of curiosity in an audience that waits 40 minutes only to realize Oh, I get it, this isn't going to be Eddie Murphy Funny! Read full review
20
Film ThreatRon Wells
Holy Man is just a dumb romantic comedy passing itself off as something else. Read full review
20
Village VoiceGary Dauphin
Holy Man's traipse through the wilds of consumerism and higher purpose must have seemed like a chance for the proverbial stretch, but not even Eddie can save this ill-conceived mess of a movie. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
All the advance signs looked discouraging, but I still kept thinking: How bad could a comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum really be? Well, let's put it this way … you won't ever hear me asking that particular question again. Read full review
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