The Original Kings of Comedy
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: August 18, 2000 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Not only exhilarating and cathartic. It's too funny to be ignored. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
Lee performs magic. He's preserved and expanded the experience of an adrenaline-pumping, uproarious night of racism-, classism-, and sexism-subverting humor. Read full review
90
The New York TimesElvis Mitchell
Their comedy gives audiences that have never seen anything like it a hilarious window on a new world. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Turns a hysterical night of African-American humor into the hottest little picture of the summer. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A dynamite concert film. Read full review
90
Rolling StonePeter Travers
A tornado of laughs based on the black experience as lived by these four insightful jokers, instead of as filtered through the Hollywood formula.
88
USA TodayMike Clark
Both the material and the way it's delivered by the movie's comic quartet are so funny. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
It's not so much good material as divinely inspired delivery. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
A fresh, intimate, gloriously unpolished performance film that measures up to the classics of the genre. Read full review
80
Film.comErnest Hardy
It's a very funny film, one of the most enjoyable of the summer. Read full review
80
VarietyScott Foundas
Consistently hilarious. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
Both funny and furious -- on why black people are different from white people. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
There's nothing stodgy about these court jesters or their humor, even though their act is a decidedly grown-up affair. Read full review
80
BBCMichael Thomson
The Original Kings of Comedy has more to do with great comedy than Spike Lee's direction. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The most articulate and entertaining commentary on racial differences to have come down the pike in quite a while. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunAnn Hornaday
These guys are funny. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Crassly funny passages. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Exuberant, often hilarious. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Side-splitting concert film. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
Can make a person sick in two ways at once -- through its lowdown raunch and through the spasms of laughter that use stomach muscles one might not have known existed. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
This picture won't attract white audiences. I doubt that blacks would flock to a Jerry Seinfeld concert film. But we'd all get along better if we realized we had the right to laugh at each other's foibles Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Doesn't have the theatrical subtext or, let it be said, the genius of Richard Pryor. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Racy, obscene, spirited and infectious. Read full review
70
Village VoiceGary Dauphin
Simultaneously hilarious and reprehensible. Read full review
70
Film.comGemma Files
A two-hour slice --of comedy pie. Read full review
70
Film ThreatSusannah Breslin
Ultimately, Lee lets the men and their show speak for themselves as showmen, plain and simple. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The routines are charged, even between jokes, with anticipatory hilarity. Read full review
65
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
Gets to the funny bone, but it could've cut deeper. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
One funny movie - for at least half the time. Read full review
63
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Unashamedly vulgar and exuberantly politically incorrect. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
The laughter does build. But there's precious little risk in the comedy -- even the rough edges seem calculated. These guys are preaching to the converted, and their careful sermons keep the faith. Skilled they are, but original or kingly they definitely are not -- just solid knights working the round table. Read full review
55
TNT RoughCutSusannah Breslin
Solidly entertaining if not remarkably innovative. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Sometimes they're truly hilarious; sometimes they're lazy enough to milk laughs from scattershot vulgarity. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
There are some good gags and routines here, but loads of them, particularly the one about what it was like being eight and getting hit by your mother, have been done with far more invention and wit by Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
As a testament to the vitality of—and sense of community engendered by—black comedy, The Original Kings Of Comedy is a success. As a comedy, however, it's sluggishly paced and not nearly funny enough to justify its two-hour running time. Read full review
40
EmpireWilliam Thomas
Even while laughing at lines like, “Black people don’t do bungee-jumping, it’s too much like lynching,” you’re still left thinking that the funniest man in the building was not actually in front of the camera. Read full review
30
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
The relentlessly self-congratulatory tone is oppressive. Read full review
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