64
Metascore
26 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversThanks to the clever, caring touch of director Ismail Merchant, working from a script by Caryl Phillips, this steadily engrossing film captures the book's bracing humor and humanity.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranThe result is an eccentric, amusing fable that moves at an unhurried island pace, a picturesque tale that Merchant seems to have invested with an almost personal sense of spirit.
- 63New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardThere is a very sharp, funny critique of ambition and self-made gurus in The Mystic Masseur, but it is obscured by a softening bloat.
- 63Baltimore SunMichael SragowBaltimore SunMichael SragowAt its best, The Mystic Masseur is like a tall tale that grows more beguiling and credible the taller it gets.
- 63New York PostJonathan ForemanNew York PostJonathan ForemanIt's only because the performances are so vividly entertaining -- Mandvi and Puri are particularly good -- and the painstakingly reconstructed locations so lovely that the saggier sequences are tolerable.
- 50Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyPhiladelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyA haunting allegory about the rise and fall of a figure who possesses powerful charisma, if weak karma.
- 50Boston GlobeBoston GlobeOffers no tangible sense of Ganesh's genuine convictions (beyond a thirst for fame), nor of the essence of his character. By the time Ganesh's political downfall comes, in the same spiritless fashion in which his fortunes rose, it would take a mystic miracle to care.
- 50Film ThreatFilm ThreatOccasionally funny, sometimes inspiring, often boring, the magic is minimal in The Mystic Masseur.
- 40The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe Mystic Masseur shows more signs of life than "Cotton Mary," but it's still a producer's movie: attractively mounted, dramatically inert.
- 40Village VoiceEd ParkVillage VoiceEd ParkIsmail Merchant's screen adaptation retains much of the novel's incident, but fumbles both the humor and moral ambivalence.