Man of the YearMovie Reviews

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
No
Avg. Critic Score: 39 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
12 Iffy for 12+
Read Common Sense Media review

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

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Man of the Year remains an interesting proposition throughout, and a tale well told. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    Levinson diverts his film into a political thriller with its own conspiracy theory, an improbable romance and a curious subplot that feels like an anti-smoking ad. Little wonder his bewildered star, Robin Williams, looks confused much of the time. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post |

    A movie that can be smart-funny and astutely topical. But if what you're expecting is a start-to-finish laugh fest, beware: This picture takes some detours and never really figures out what kind of movie it wants to be. Read full review

  • 50
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    The actors, individually fine although they appear to be in different films, tread warily on each other's turf, like Martian and Venusian making adjustments for an alien gravitational field. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    One walks out of Man of the Year aching for the squandered opportunities. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety |

    A curious hybrid -- a political/action/comedy/thriller in which Robin Williams becomes president of the United States. A movie as uneven as it sounds, "Man" is less laugh-out-loud funny than topical and suspenseful. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Like a politician who waters down his message to gain favor with the masses rather than truly serving his constituency, Man of the Year seems determined to play it safe on all counts. Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    Williams turns out to be exactly the wrong candidate for the job, a comedian singularly uninterested in letting anyone else get a word in, but with nothing to say. Read full review

  • 40
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    The result is a mess -- sometimes an entertaining mess, but mostly a movie that makes a perfunctory mockery of the mockery currently passing for political discourse. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    It swerves from thriller to romantic comedy to farce without much conviction, though you can occasionally salvage a glimmer of amusing possibility. Mr. Williams scores with a few throwaway jokes. Read full review

View more reviews for Man of the Year on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 12+ Lame political comedy misses the mark.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that teens will likely be interested in this movie thanks to relentless promotion and its connection to Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Unfortunately, it just isn't that funny -- it could have been an amusing political commentary, but it missed the mark. Also, there are crude jokes galore (remember, it stars Robin Williams) about diapers, farts, "inhaling," pictures of naked women, and sex ("I did not have sex with that woman ... I wanted to, but I didn't").
  • Families can talk about whether a comedian could really run for president and win. If so, who would be a good candidate? What makes someone qualified to be president? Is it OK to have a president who isn't exactly a model of morality? What specific people and issues is the movie spoofing? What issues should be brought up in a presidential candidacy? Where does your family stand on topical issues like abortion, hydrogen fuel, war, and legal marijuana?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: A character tries to cover up his company's mistake. Characters are corrupt (politicians, corporate big-wigs). Lots of crude humor.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Paint-ball scene in which the president is shot. A character refers to beating up a guy when he was a teenager.
  • sex false3 Sex: Romance between two characters, kissing, implied sex, jokes about Monica Lewinsky, lesbians, foreplay, prostitutes, underwear, same-sex marriages, pictures of naked women.
  • language false3 Language: "Damn," "f--k."
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Post-It Notes, Paintball, references to Enron, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Oprah, Saturday Night Live, NASCAR, Ikea.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: A character chain smokes. Social drinking at a dinner party. Jokes about "inhaling."
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.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… it deserves to be hated. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Man of the Year Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

So-so 972 fan reviews

Critics say

No See all critic reviews

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook