76
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnThe reality-show aesthetic pervades the movie as well. Garrone's roaming camera style draws you into each moment with extreme close-ups and long takes that wander through each scene and get lost in it. Luciano's plight is crushing because Garrone renders it with such detail.
- 90Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonGarrone's film grows in your head afterward, making royal hash out of a cultural paradigm we'll be loath to remember years from now—if, by then, everything hasn't become "reality."
- 90The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisReality is a story about one man’s desire to make it big on the small screen, and something of a familiar exploration of the blurring between reality and its simulations. More elliptically and more interestingly, it is also a look at an Italy engrossed with rituals and spectacle, in watching and being watched.
- 83The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasHis outrageous, self-destructive journey lands him in a place just as ironic as Rupert Pupkin’s in "The King Of Comedy," but it’s haunting and mysterious, too, reflecting the dream that consumes his life.
- 67Portland OregonianMarc MohanPortland OregonianMarc MohanSpoofing the pernicious effects of television, especially the so-called reality genre, doesn't require pinpoint aim, and at times Luciano seems as much a target of ridicule as the superficial, oversexed entertainment served up on the tube.
- 63Slant MagazineJesse CataldoSlant MagazineJesse CataldoMatteo Garrone has a sure eye for outlandish set pieces that exhibit the expansive outlines of his ideas, but these spectacles are sporadic, and the spaces between them tend to lag.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt's a likable film played with gusto and heart — though fundamentally a little sentimental and predictable.
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanThere is enough here — including the gifted Arena’s barely believable backstory — to keep your head spinning.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterHalf comedy and half drama, the film struggles to find its tone amid stock characters and leisurely plotting, with nods to Fellini and Italian neorealism that leave the taste of a big, reheated pizza. It all should be funnier; still the atmospheric local kitsch wins some smiles.
- 40Time OutEric HynesTime OutEric HynesThis vision of contemporary Italy as a warped fairyland filled with corpulent slobs and seedy C-grade celebrities recalls the tough-love spectacle of Fellini’s "La Dolce Vita," but Reality frustratingly devolves into a far more tedious mass-media morality tale.