Max Rose
Paladin | Release Date: September 2, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
6
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ObserverRex ReedAug 31, 2016
A tender showcase for a different kind of Jerry Lewis that utilizes the strengths and frailties of a 90-year-old show business survivor as few films have ever done. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakAug 31, 2016
This subject matter can be tough to traverse, but Lewis embraces the challenge and makes us wonder why he stopped acting in the first place. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesJohn HartlSep 15, 2016
Fascinating at certain moments, especially when Lewis is exploring his character’s grief and bitterness, it still feels like a work in progress. Read full review
63
Washington PostPat PaduaSep 15, 2016
Max Rose seems to come from someplace personal, but its pain feels dialed down a notch to make it easier to digest. Still, the movie gains resonance from its look at what may be the final years of a movie legend. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 2, 2016
It's a shallow, melodramatic device that would sink most actors. But Lewis is not most actors. In fact, despite age and illness, he remains a mesmerizing star in front of the camera, compelling to watch even (and especially) when sitting perfectly still. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 27, 2016
Lewis' performance is a spectacle of ego and last-chance craft that could only be possible for a legend near the end. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 28, 2016
The film occasionally and promisingly suggests an obsessive and free-associative paean to regret. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyAug 31, 2016
In old age, Lewis’ vanity has become touching. But Max Rose — shelved for more than three years before finally making its way to theaters — is as trite as a film can be while piggybacking off the reality of age. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneSep 9, 2016
The movie only stirs in the final twenty minutes. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 1, 2016
The writer and director, Daniel Noah, creates no space for the story’s darker corners, or for his star to delve beneath the surface of Max’s depression and anger. Then again, who cares? It’s Jerry Lewis, so everyone can just shut up. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 30, 2016
Occasionally, Noah, who wrote and directed, hits onto something that feels like life. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennySep 2, 2016
As conventional and stiff as Max Rose itself is, Lewis’ performance in it is full of virtues: he’s committed, disciplined, and entirely credible. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisSep 21, 2016
The script is replete with filler inserted in the name of “real life”: bad jokes and silly riddles, spontaneous songs, and improvised scenes in which conversations go around in circles. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoSep 15, 2016
About the only time the film emerges from its stupor is when Lewis bares his fangs and shows us that Max has a bilious, acerbic side. Read full review
25
New York PostLou LumenickSep 1, 2016
Two decades after his last film, the legendary Jerry Lewis performs a truly unfortunate encore playing an elderly widower in writer-director Daniel Noah’s morose and thoroughly unconvincing drama. Read full review
25
TheWrapRobert AbeleAug 30, 2016
The truest test for unrepentant treacle like this is to imagine how invested one would be if Lewis weren’t headlining his first movie in 20 years.... The answer is, barely invested at all, considering how simplified and pandering is Noah’s approach to issues of grief, aging, and family dynamics. Read full review
20
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinSep 8, 2016
Noah’s awkward, unconvincing script aside, Lewis is the true weak link here as he struggles to sell Max’s wobbly lines and emotions. This is a thoroughly painful experience. Read full review
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