The Master of Disguise
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: August 2, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
12
METASCORE
Overwhelming dislike based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
1
Negative:
23
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Feels like nothing less than Dana Carvey's desperate bid for his own "Austin Powers"-like franchise, but with a harmless humor far less crude. Carvey favors whoopee cushion punch lines to toilet gags and references to big butts over sexual double-entendres. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneLou Carlozo
A disjointed film that, but for brief flashes of comedic verve, should skip theatrical release and go straight to video. Read full review
25
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Totally lame. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Hands-down, the best James Brolin-in-an-Italian-accent movie ever.
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Pants and wheezes and hurls itself exhausted across the finish line after barely 65 minutes of movie, and then follows it with 15 minutes of end credits in an attempt to clock in as a feature film. Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Lacking even a hint of humor or a watchable story, Disguise has distinguished itself as the summer's worst movie. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The individual scenes are just random, uninspired riffs by Carvey or awkwardly flat cameos by the likes of Jesse Ventura and Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
At times, it actually hurts to watch. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeReilly Capps
Like criticizing the light fixtures on the Titanic. This ship was going down anyway. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldCharles Savage
For a movie that's all about camouflage, this sketch comedy epilogue turns out to be its most creative disguise: a thin coating of humor slapped on an otherwise ponderous film. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Quite an artful dissembler. Despite all evidence to the contrary, this clunker has somehow managed to pose as an actual feature movie, the kind that charges full admission and gets hyped on TV and purports to amuse small children and ostensible adults. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Imagine combining bad imitations of the "Ace Ventura" and "Austin Powers" movies and you'll have a rough idea of this feeble Dana Carvey farce. Read full review
20
VarietyDennis Harvey
Vehicle for Dana Carvey as a chameleonic crime-fighting imbecile is noisy, colorful and fart-gag-filled enough to amuse undiscriminating auds under the age of 10. Read full review
20
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Painfully unfunny and misguided to boot. Read full review
20
New Times (L.A.)Gregory Weinkauf
Mostly this happy train wreck feels like a longer, better movie that was chopped up and reassembled by retarded monkeys; what should have been a rush instead feels rushed.
20
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A film so family-safe it feels sheathed in plastic Bubble Wrap. Unfortunately, it's not even as much fun as popping the bubbles. It doesn't matter that the film is less than 90 minutes. It still feels like a prison stretch. Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
An awful, stillborn comedy assembled out of rusty spare parts from secret agent movies and run-of-the-mill ''Saturday Night Live'' skits. Read full review
12
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Even the rare individual who died laughing while watching the trailer will discover that only half of that phrase - the "dying" part - applies to the experience of enduring the film. Read full review
10
SalonCharles Taylor
I understand how hard it is for parents to find movies to take their kids to, but the thought of them or their children getting stuck at this stinker galls me. Summer vacation feels short enough as it is. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
But even Carvey's protean talent can't dent this ponderously unfunny and uninspired comedy. It's hard to imagine anyone older than 10 being diverted by its broad buffoonery, and kids deserve better than this in the first place. Read full review
10
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
A film about as funny as a seeping wound. Read full review
10
L.A. WeeklyDaniel Fienberg
The Master of Disguise represents Adam Sandler's latest attempt to dumb down the universe. Read full review
0
New York PostJonathan Foreman
No one but a convict guilty of some truly heinous crime should have to sit through The Master of Disguise, an unbearably tedious and unfunny comedy. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
A gimmick in search of a movie: how to get Carvey into as many silly costumes and deliver as many silly voices as possible, plot mechanics be damned. Read full review
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