It all feels very bleak, and appalling, and horrifically absurd. The effect is absolutely superb.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jun 12, 2024

The Death of Stalin is its own firing squad armed with a specialized brand of heinous hilarity.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 7, 2024

In the end, the humor fades away in favor of political machinations, but the film's killer gags are still numerable. Watching them delivered by expert performers is The Death of Stalin's primary pleasure.

| Dec 5, 2023

I appear to be the rare early reviewer who didn’t dig it, so Iannucci die-hards can probably feel free to ignore me and anticipate.

| Jan 11, 2023

With caustic wit, Iannucci examines the humanity of his characters and the absurdity of their behavior with both passion and precision.

| Dec 7, 2022

Steve Buscemi is just a joy, as always.

| Aug 12, 2022

This is what great satires do: make us laugh while giving us glimpses of our own reality. The Death Of Stalin is a truly funny and absurdly smart film.

| Original Score: 7/10 | May 19, 2022

The brilliance of Iannucci's limber tonal shifts is that he can switch between them in an instant, keeping a sharp audience on edge, while never losing our investment in the film.

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

Politicians bumbling attempts to feign grief about Stalin's death while secretly delighted, functions as a running gag with a Python-ian flavor (heightened by Python emeritus Michael Palin in the cast) and thereby highlighting the absurdity of communism.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 5, 2021

It's as mind-bendingly clever as it is completely silly.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2021

An audacious reimagining of history. Strong comic performances are highlighted in a film that is both frightening and funny at the same time.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 4, 2021

The Death of Stalin is a fatally ill-conceived "black comedy" ... The film is not so much maliciously anticommunist as it is, above all, historically clueless.

| Feb 11, 2021

Co-writer/director Iannucci handpicked these actors one at a time, and you can tell. Every actor fits the role like a tailored suit set to one ideal set of mannerisms. That's high-class skill.

| Nov 6, 2020

Filled with political correctness, the dramatic points feel way more effective than the comedy. Absolutely gorgeous production design. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 30, 2020

'This is just... wordplay,' one character exclaims, and while that doesn't come off as an intended auto-critique, it certainly could function as one at points.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2020

From backstabbing to assassination, pajamas, and concert recordings, it all seems so terribly trivial until it's all so terribly real. It's like Mean Girls, only with the fate of millions hanging in the balance.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 27, 2020

The Death of Stalin strikes a tricky tone, but it rings true. The events portrayed in the film happened 65 years ago, and that distance gives us the ability to laugh at this very dark chapter in this country's history.

| May 29, 2020

A pretty good attempt at satirising the absurdities of end-game totalitarianism.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 31, 2020

Everything about this movie works, particularly depicting the dictator's inner circle as a frat house. Hilarious and unsettling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 27, 2020

It may be cringe-worthy at times, what with its propensity for showing the Soviet world of violence, torture, and bloodletting, but for those who like their parables to be challenging and salty, do not miss this exceptional film.

| Oct 17, 2019