It's entertaining, but a lot like watching CNN for two hours.

| May 9, 2023

Like a relentlessly charismatic political candidate offering the moon, stars and a viable health-care plan, ''Bob Roberts'' promises much but ultimately fails to deliver.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 15, 2020

"Bob Roberts" is a bold and often hilarious movie that cares enough about politics to take actual stands on real issues.

| Sep 15, 2020

While he resists imitating or stealing from "Citizen Kane," Robbins proves himself a filmmaker whose first film shows something of the genius and daring of the young Orson Welles.

| Sep 15, 2020

Whether we find Our Bob appealing or anathema, it is a measure of Robbins' exceptional success that no one can doubt how seductive a candidate like this would be in an election near you.

| Sep 15, 2020

After a summer in Hollywood fantasyland, at last we have an American movie that rattles our cage-and pokes a sharp spear into the body politic. Now that's entertainment.

| Feb 8, 2018

The first 30 minutes of Bob Roberts are the best, with the conceit still fresh, but the last are unbelievable: where did all the fun go?

| Jan 3, 2018

Bob Roberts is a shrewdly drawn portrait of the unsettling intersection of entertainment, business, and politics.

| Aug 25, 2017

This nose-thumbing mock documentary is so prescient, so astonishingly up-to-the-minute, it creates the eerie effect of having been ripped from tomorrow's headlines.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 7, 2011

A political horror story for teens and adults.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2010

A sometimes brilliant if overloaded pseudodocumentary satire.

| Jul 8, 2009

A sort of political This Is Spinal Tap, Bob Roberts is both a stimulating social satire and, for thinking people, a depressing commentary on the devolution of the American political system.

Full Review | Jun 10, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 4, 2007

Robbins's satire is savvy and complex enough to send mixed signals to the viewers about politics and pop culture; both Democrats and Republicans may find supporting evidence for their arguments in his picture.

| Original Score: B | Apr 29, 2006

Bob Roberts is not merely a satirical fictional biopic, but a wry exploration of the relationship between political reality and manufactured image.

| Feb 9, 2006

Characteristically and welcomingly Tim Robbins

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 20, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 4, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 21, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 24, 2004