The Aristocrats
Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment | Release Date: July 29, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
7
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
In the wake of everything we've seen on TV and in movies in recent decades, it's amazing that something as harmless as language can still stupefy us. As The Aristocrats demonstrates, there is real humor in the confrontation of taboos. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJames Greenberg
Obscene, disgusting, vulgar and vile, The Aristocrats might be the funniest movie you'll ever see. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
At the very least, The Aristocrats provides a survey of some of the best comic minds in the business. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
What keeps the film from becoming obnoxiously redundant is the conviviality of the comedians. These are funny people even when they're not telling the joke. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
You'll either be screaming with laughter - or be incredibly offended. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The Aristocrats -- the movie, not the joke -- is a working demonstration of the pleasures of the profane. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Sure, this movie is proudly profane, but it's also funny. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The Aristocrats has a lot of laughs, but as it giggles and blasphemes its way into areas not so far removed from the scandalous landscape of the Marquis de Sade, the movie, funny as it is, becomes exhausting and a bit depressing. Read full review
80
Film ThreatBob Westal
An essential for all serious humor fans who don't mind verbal grossness of the most extreme sort. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
Gloriously filthy, ramshackle, endearing documentary. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
A raucous insider documentary that invites the viewer to share a secret held exclusively by comics for untold generations. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
It works on the mind as well as the funny bone and the gag reflex. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
There is a special kind of pleasure in hearing jokes that have no redeeming social value. I'd like to think that this IS their social value-an invitation to free the mind. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The picture itself is so ebullient and celebratory that it practically beams with perverted innocence. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
It's hands down the funniest of the year, both pushing the boundaries of bad taste and exploring how those boundaries keep shifting. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
A celebration of the naughty joke and the courage it takes to tell one. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Under normal circumstances, nothing kills a joke faster than trying to explain it. Yet here, such examination is the film's strong suit and provides much-needed respite, quite frankly, from the exhaustion of constant laughter. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
After we’ve heard three or four versions of the joke, the words no longer shock. They describe not acts but fantasies, and the movie becomes a celebration of the infinite varieties of comic style. Read full review
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)
Guaranteed to offend, but also guaranteed to leave you in spasms of laughter. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Killer-funny documentary. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A documentary that dissects the essence of comedy as well as showcases outrageous improvisational humor. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneAllison Benedikt
But though you'll laugh your head off, the whole film kind of morphs into a blur, with one poop/sex/abuse joke after another. It's exhausting, really. And save for the very best tellings, you do start to wonder: What's so funny? Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A one-joke documentary stretched, with surprising success, to full length. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
For anyone interested in the art of comedy, it's a veritable primer on the vagaries of humor. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The structure of the film mirrors the changes in the joke which in turn reflect the moral of the story -- hey, it's all a matter of perspective. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A surprisingly fresh and funny feature-length look at an unrelentingly filthy vaudeville gag that's been passed down from comic to comic like an urban legend, often changing with every telling. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyDave Shulman
Delicious fun, indeed, but it doesn't really require a large screen. Please send me a copy of the DVD. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
What fascinates is, first, that these comics treat the joke the way jazz musicians might treat a theme that each of them plays differently; and, second, that the passage of this joke from one comic to another is like the bonding of a profession. Read full review
63
PremiereAaron Hillis
The Aristocrats lies halfway between two potentially great films: it's neither a smartly austere succession of jokesmiths with all the critique left to the audience, nor a deconstructionist essay on "crossing the line" and the language of comedy itself. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Aristocrats might have made a nice short subject. At 87 minutes, it's like the boozy salesman who corners you with the Pinocchio torture. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Though a fine specimen of cultural anthropology, The Aristocrats is too shapeless to be satisfying as a film. Read full review
60
Village VoiceBen Kenigsberg
The Aristocrats is a veritable talent show itself, albeit one that feels inescapably slight. To rejigger another ancient joke: The food at this place isn't terrible. But the portions are really small. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
There's something about professional comedians breaking down what's funny for civilians that gets annoying after a while. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Your reaction to the film will depend on your tolerance for scatology -- some of this stuff is very funny, although most of it is grindingly, numbingly awful -- and your interest in standup comics.
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
But if you stick around for those final credits, you'll also have the opportunity to hear Robin Williams deliver a clean but nonetheless hilarious joke, a reminder of how funny Williams can be when he's not trying so hard. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
You won't be too bored. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Mighty monotonous after a while. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerGianni Truzzi
It wears thin, but also provides some insight into how comics interact and view their craft. At the very least, it confirms all suspicions that they have way more fun than you. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
As long as it stayed mainstream dirty it was okay, but when it got into perversions the American Psychiatric Society hasn't even named yet, it left me behind. Read full review
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