40
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 67Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumOf course, there's still the Williams schmaltz factor.
- 60Washington PostStephen HunterWashington PostStephen HunterBut the best thing about Jakob the Liar is that it's not "Patch Adams at Auschwitz."
- 50San Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisSan Francisco ExaminerWesley MorrisMore altruistic would be if Williams stopped torturing us with weepy endearments so he could look for that complex clown who used to mug just for laughs.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertI prefer "Life Is Beautiful," which is clearly a fantasy, to Jakob the Liar, which is just as contrived and manipulative but pretends it is not.
- 50Miami HeraldCurtis MorganMiami HeraldCurtis MorganFlat and forced, Jakob the Liar aspires to be a poignant parable about the power of hope but instead uses one of humanity's greatest tragedies for trite melodrama.
- 40Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovFeels sterile and chilly; the humor -- Yiddish and otherwise -- falls flat, and sadly so does the film.
- 38New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsAn awkwardly executed, tedious and -- a near impossibility for a Holocaust movie -- emotionally uninvolving bore.
- 38New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanA particularly gross exploitation of the Holocaust for financial gain.
- 20Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranThe latest in what feels like an endless string of movies ... in which the actor's parts have ruinously overdosed on sentimentality and schmaltz at the expense of humor and even sanity.
- 10L.A. WeeklyJohn PattersonL.A. WeeklyJohn PattersonJust avoid this ghastly, insulting farrago at all costs.