Click here to copy URL

Zelig

1983

Woody Allen

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Gale Hansen, Stephanie Farrow ...

7.6

17,602

Comedy Mock documentary on the figure of Leonard Zelig, a chameleon of a man who astounded the American society of the “jazz era”. His story starts the day he tells a lie on claiming to have read Moby Dick simply not to feel out of things. The need to be accepted kicks in, and he starts physically transforming according to those around him, instantly hitting the front pages.

	Media	Author	Review
		Vincent Canby The New York Times	"[Zelig] is Woody Allen's most brilliant, most inspired fictional creation (...) 'Citizen Kane' miraculously transformed into a side-splitting comedy."
		Gary Arnold The Washington Post	"A sublime comic parable about the quest for identity."
		Ian Nathan Empire	"Truly one of Woody funniest films, despite its high concept formula it is movingly realised (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"It sounds perfect, but the format fits Allen like a straitjacket, limiting him to one joke endlessly repeated (...) A gray little nothing of a movie"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Allen's flawlessly realised fantasy (...) looks even more prescient and brilliant today (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Richard Schickel Time	"Woody Allen has chosen a form that is utterly original in conception and exhilarating in execution."
		Tom Huddleston Time Out	"The comedy tends to the smirk-inducing rather than the laugh-out-loud, and the second half wanders somewhat, but 'Zelig' is a strong contender for Allen's most fascinating film."
		Pauline Kael The New Yorker	"The picture is thoroughly charming."
		Variety Staff Variety	"Lampooning documentary tradition by structuring the entire film as a meticulously crafted bogus docu, Woody Allen tackles some serious stuff en route"
		Andrew Collins Radio Times	"Its not just technically ground-breaking (...) but laugh-out-loud funny, too. (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Michael Scheinfeld TV Guide	"[Its] loving recreation of Depression-era pop culture is accomplished with amazing verisimilitude; the faux-documentary sequences are among the best since 'Citizen Kane' (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.