50
Metascore
28 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanIt’s the tangle of workings-out not the easy answer that are the proof of a theorem, and that magnificent, sparkling, insightful chaos abounds here.
- 80Total FilmTotal FilmThe future as candy-coloured paranoid nightmare: not quite Gilliam’s best, but still the most satisfying movie he’s made for years.
- 70TimeMary CorlissTimeMary CorlissThe Zero Theorem is a spectacle that demands to be cherished — as long as the society Gilliam portrays is a satire, not a prophesy.
- 67The PlaylistOliver LytteltonThe PlaylistOliver LytteltonThere’s much to like, from Waltz’s performance to the typically rich production and costume design.
- At once cluttered and cavernous, hysterical and static, romantic and cynical, The Zero Theorem works most effectively moment by moment and in the details.
- 60The GuardianXan BrooksThe GuardianXan BrooksThe film has a ragged charm, a Tiggerish bounce, and a certain sweet melancholy that bubbles up near the end.
- 60Time Out LondonDave CalhounTime Out LondonDave CalhounIt’s anarchic, sometimes amusing, intermittently tedious, with ideas about digital alienation and the corruption of technology that too often feel blunt and tired.
- 40The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinRaucous but fatally confused, openly pilfering its central themes from Gilliam’s own 1985 masterpiece Brazil, but with no idea how to develop them.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungIt doesn’t really add up to much, beyond a timely reminder that it would be better for everyone to stop uploading and downloading and just unplug and be human.
- 30VarietyLeslie FelperinVarietyLeslie FelperinA sci-fi confection that, at best, momentarily recalls the dystopian whimsy of the director’s best-loved effort, “Brazil,” but ends up dissolving into a muddle of unfunny jokes and half-baked ideas, all served up with that painful, herky-jerky Gilliam rhythm.