Recount
HBO | Release Date: May 25, 2008
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
7
Negative:
3

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: Director Jay Roach and writer Danny Strong do a superb job of putting you back in the 36-day marathon about the outcome of the 2000 presidential election in Florida. Don't want to go there? You'll miss a brilliant cast headed by Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyGillian Flynn
Season 1 Review: At one point, before a press conference, Dern morphs her face from that of a human being into Harris' crazy-cuckoo public mask, and the moment is absolutely chilling. Fair? Debatable, but like Recount, it's a gorgeous bit of political theater. Read full review
90
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: Although Recount is a smashing success on almost every level, it's also a brutally disheartening experience for the story it tells. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: Sure enough, HBO's "Recount" is replete with inside politics. But it also has well-written characters, first-class acting and confident directing, which produces a level of tension and suspense you wouldn’t expect in a story about a widely reported recent event. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: Written with an eye for telling detail by Danny Strong, and directed in surprisingly nimble fashion by blockbuster-comedy wrangler Jay Roach (of the Austin Powers movies and Meet the Parents fame), it has the peculiarly alchemic structure of a nail-biting tragi-farce. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: HBO’s crisply told, colorfully acted Recount wants to be both legal thriller and nightmare farce as it recounts, with news footage and dramatic re-creation, the cliff-hanger aftermath in Florida of the 2000 “squeaker” election between George W. Bush and Al Gore (both mostly off camera). Read full review
80
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: Smart, star-studded and anchored by another fine-tuned performance from Kevin Spacey, Recount finds the sweet spot between theatrical fare and TV that's precisely the constituency HBO wants to reach. Read full review
80
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: Recount, an astute and deliciously engrossing film on HBO this Sunday night, retells the tale of Florida in all its bizarre and inglorious moments, from haggling over the “hanging chad” and “butterfly ballots” to the ruckus between the Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris, and the Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. Read full review
75
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 1 Review: Wilkinson steals the entire movie with his portrayal of Baker, playing him as a brilliant, wily political strategist. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: Recount pays due diligence to history while at the same time fictionalizing the interactions of the participants. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Season 1 Review: Recount, an efficient and relentless enactment of the strategists on both sides of the Florida controversy, shows an accident that was waiting to happen Read full review
70
SalonHeather Havrilesky
Season 1 Review: Needless to say, Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary are both lively and funny in their roles as members of Al Gore's team, but it's Laura Dern who really steals the movie with her hysterically self-involved portrait of Katherine Harris. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith
Season 1 Review: Even viewers who had thought they never wanted to hear about a dimpled chad again will find that Recount moves along at a satisfying clip and can make the old drama and suspense seem surprisingly fresh. Read full review
70
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: While it's not a great TV movie--it's basically a high-class Movie of the Week, a docudrama that dramatizes events you'll recall from the news at the time if you were following it--it's nonetheless a gripping recounting (ha!) of a Presidential drama that was pretty gripping at the time to begin with. Read full review
70
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: Populated by some super actors, the film, sometimes fascinating, sometimes too drawn out, gets inside the frenzied Florida jockeying for a presidential victory. Read full review
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