The film, though English in subject matter, was far from English in style. It was grand, not parochial; crude, not genteel, and very funny.

| Apr 21, 2022

Hawthorne plays madness with restraint. It's only when he hears the news from Yorktown that he goes really bananas.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 14, 2022

It's sometimes so loopy that one half-expects Mel Brooks to wander into the frame, muttering, "It's good to be the king."

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 19, 2021

Visually sumptuous, energetic and classy, The Madness of King George is British film theatre at its most seductive.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 17, 2016

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 7, 2011

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

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 10, 2007

Hytner's version of Bennett's comic-tragic drama of the tormented king who almost lost his mind confirms that power games, family scandals, and personal intrigues have always been integral to the British Crown, an institution both revered and reviled.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Aug 22, 2006

It's Hawthorne's engaging performance that makes this drama both fun and moving.

| Original Score: B | Feb 12, 2006

Vastly entertaining, with more bite than you expect from a costume drama.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 12, 2005

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

Flawless acting. Hawthorne was robbed of an Oscar. Sorry, but it's true.

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

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 16, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 16, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 8, 2004

So slick, so clever and so incredibly lucid that it neither leads to much in the way of thought, discussion or, unfortunately, repeat viewing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 15, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 22, 2003

Respectable actors aside, it's no more than a dryasdust history lesson.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 10, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 20, 2003