72
Metascore
26 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The Hollywood ReporterRay BennettThe Hollywood ReporterRay BennettIt is a sumptuously told tale of childlike wonder in the face of darkest corruption and war, mixing high comedy, surreal sequences and genuine drama viewed from a wise, jaundiced perspective.
- 90Village VoiceVillage VoiceA mischievously hedonistic, Chaplinesque farce, the film buoyantly but seriously traverses the horrors of World War II with a subtlety and sophistication that most American comedies cannot grasp.
- 83The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasI Served The King Of England views diabolical events from the sidelines, something like "The Remains Of The Day" reworked as an absurdist comedy.
- 80VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellA virtual primer on the unique mixture of self-deprecating dark humor and personal tragedy that has been the Czech cinema's stock-in-trade since their celebrated 1960s New Wave.
- 80New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanA film as unique as this is a gift that shouldn't be ignored.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMenzel’s touch is sprightly, lyrical, mischievously understated.
- 70The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyMenzel strings his sequences together with great affection and skill, but the movie, an absurdist picaresque, doesn't have much cumulative impact, and perhaps the hero is too much a lightweight to hold an epic together.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe performance of Mr. Barnev, who has the poker face and agility of a silent clown, defines the style of a film whose timing and physical comedy look back to 1920s slapstick.
- 70TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelMay not be a totally riveting movie, but it is, in its gently insinuating way, a curiously rewarding one.
- 50Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasThe new film is so leisurely paced and overly long that what means to be at once charming yet darkly satirical lapses into tedium and barely comes alive.