80
Metascore
35 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumThe first great, mind-tickling treat of the new movie year.
- 90The New York TimesDana StevensThe New York TimesDana StevensThis is not just a movie-within-a-movie, but a movie-within-a-movie-within-a-movie, something that sounds unbearably arch but that is swift, funny and surprisingly unpretentious.
- 80EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanA successful mix of literary adaptation, meta-fictional discourse and inside-showbiz comedy. Both funny and clever.
- 80TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissThis may seem too inside-cricket for a U.S. audience. And it's true that Cock and Bull is so postpostmodern, it's very nearly postmovie. But it's no less diverting for all that. It would be a shame if the great novel no one has read becomes the terrific film nobody bothers to see.
- 75The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayHas about a dozen layers of in-joke, and up to the eighth or ninth layer, they mostly work.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversIt's really inventive and bizarre and marvelously entertaining.
- 75Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerIt's all a bit precious and preening, but Coogan is marvelous, almost as good as he was in Winterbottom's "24 Hour Party People."
- 70The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenThe Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenLong deemed unfilmable, the 18th century novel finds the perfect interpreters in director Michael Winterbottom and actor Steve Coogan.
- 70Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanFor all the on-set antics, appropriated Fellini music, and throwaway gags, the movie is most successful when Coogan is pulling faces for the mirror, aimlessly trading Pacino imitations with his sidekick Brydon, or riffing on the color of the latter's teeth.