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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 44 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Rock and Mac exult in the kind of highly charged verbal and physical antics that are star-turn rewards for performers currently at the tops of their games. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    An imperfect movie, but not a boring one and not lacking in intelligence. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    Not the sharpest political humor I've ever heard, but it gets my vote for the stupidest fun I've had in a long time. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Doesn't seem directed at all; you half expect the actors to crash into each other. Still, give me the attempted satire of Head of State over the racial stereotyping of "Bringing Down the House" anyday. You can feel a mind at work when you watch Rock. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Chris Rock was busy directing, producing, co-writing and starring in this light comedy. Given his hilarious stand-up routines, one wishes he had spent a little more time on the script. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Manohla Dargis

    Rock can't set up a decent-looking shot, and he doesn't care about niceties such as character development and all that narrative downtime in between jokes. But he nonetheless wrings biting humor from serious issues with the sort of ferocity that made Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce men of respect as well as comedy. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Pleasing and occasionally very funny movie that maintains a mild but consistent hold on its audience. Read full review

  • 40
    Variety | Scott Foundas

    So beneath the considerable talents of its star, Chris Rock, it's dismaying to note Rock is also the movie's director, producer and co-scenarist. Not unlike Richard Pryor a generation ago, Rock has yet to land a movie vehicle that captures the sparky energy and subversive bent of his excellent stand-up performances. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    Though the comedy falls short of a debacle -- which is what such egocentric projects tend to be -- it isn't as sharp, fast or funny as Rock's stand-up routines. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    The very confusion that has made him (Rock) so unpredictable and funny onstage makes this on-screen exploration of contemporary racial mythologies curiously tentative and unfocused. Read full review

View more reviews for Head of State on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Chris Rock runs for president.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie has some raw humor that may be troubling or offensive to some audience members. A woman breaks up with her fiance by telling him that he is bad in bed and "I've had better sex with guys who have spina bifida." A beautiful woman on the candidate's staff is a prostitute hired to be available so that there will not be any sex scandals (though Mays turns her down). There are jokes about drinking and drugs (though Mays refuses to accept campaign contributions from a man who markets malt liquor to minors). There is a lot of hitting and slapping that is supposed to be comic and jokes about assassination attempts.
  • Families can talk about why what Mays says is so appealing to voters. His diagnoses of the problems may be right, but does he offer any solutions? When are we likely to have a black President, and who is it likely to be? What does it mean to "dress for the job you want?" Was it true that the options Mays had were limited because he had to represent the entire black race the way a white candidate would not? Why was Lisa's advice to "run your race" so important?
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Comic violence, a lot of slapping and punching
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual references including prostitution
  • language false3 Language: Some very strong language
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: References to drinking and drugs, smoking
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Head of State Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 399 fan reviews

Critics say

So-so See all critic reviews

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