--- title: "Lenny: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/lenny/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/lenny" critics_score: 52 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Lenny (1974): what the critics said Critics' score 52 from 10 reviews: 3 positive, 2 mixed, 5 negative. The reviews split down the middle, and what they agree on is narrow but firm: Dustin Hoffman. Almost every critic, favourable or not, singles out his performance, and the recreated nightclub routines are the scenes most often praised, along with Valerie Perrine’s supporting turn. The smoky black-and-white photography and the sharp editing draw approval from both camps, and admirers find the newsreel-like structure gripping rather than distancing. The disagreement is over everything around those routines. Detractors, who slightly outnumber admirers, find the dramatised biography shallow: the semi-documentary approach keeps Bruce at arm’s length, the script is thin, and the film either sanctifies him as a martyr or flattens him into biopic cliché. The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael calls it cold, Vincent Canby in The New York Times rates it about a quarter brilliant, and Roger Ebert thinks the Citizen Kane-style framing gets in the way. The spread is wide, from warm early trade praise to a recent verdict that it is simply boring. ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1974. The review praises Fosse's remarkable film version of the play and Dustin Hoffman's outstanding performance as Lenny Bruce. It highlights the black-and-white photography capturing the grit and the strong supporting turns, especially by Valerie Perrine. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1973/film/reviews/lenny-1200423218/) ## Slant Magazine — Budd Wilkins Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2026. Fosse’s biopic of Lenny Bruce is gritty and downbeat yet riveting in its high-contrast monochromatic style. The critic highlights the film’s newsreel-like structure, Felliniesque flourishes, and incisive editing, particularly a bravura single-take nightclub scene. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/lenny-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-bob-fosse/) ## Empire — Angie Errigo Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic praises Fosse's evocative biopic of Lenny Bruce for its structure drawing on transcripts and court records, strong performances especially by Valerie Perrine, and smoky black-and-white cinematography with jazz-inflected routines, but notes it fails to fully convey Bruce's outrageous humor. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/lenny-review/) ## Radio Times — Andrew Collins Rating 3/5. The mockumentary biopic succeeds through Hoffman's lively impersonation of Bruce's routines and Fosse's capture of his jazz-inflected style, though it lacks a strong narrative drive. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-4dy8bb/lenny/) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 11 November 1974. Kael criticizes the film for turning Lenny Bruce into a saintly martyr and for its thin script and superficial semi-documentary approach. She finds it well-made technically but ultimately cold, abstract, and far inferior to Albert Goldman's book on the subject. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1974/11/18/the-current-cinema-53) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 10 November 1974. Ebert finds the film fails as a persuasive portrait despite strong individual scenes and Hoffman's performance. Fosse's quasi-documentary style inspired by Citizen Kane gets in the way of the material and prevents an organic character. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lenny-1974) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 11 November 1974. Canby calls the film about one-fourth brilliant in its recreated stage performances, which are superbly acted by Hoffman. The rest is a fancily edited but shallow dramatized biography no more profound than old Hollywood biopics. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/11/archives/lenny-with-dustin-hoffman-is-one-fourth-brilliant.html) ## Time Out — DP Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 27 April 2017. The film is faulted as a conventional Hollywood biopic that reduces Lenny Bruce's life to cliché. Strong nightclub scenes and performances by Hoffman and Perrine are undermined by Fosse's direction and lack of psychological depth. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lenny) ## Collider — Jeremy Urquhart Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 6 September 2024. The film succeeds in exploring Lenny Bruce's complicated personality without sugarcoating his flaws, while celebrating his boundary-pushing impact on stand-up. It stands out as Fosse's most grounded and stylistically bold work, anchored by Dustin Hoffman's excellent performance in the lead role. [Read the review](https://collider.com/bob-fosse-movies-ranked/) ## /Film — Leah Marilla Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 7 December 2021. The critic finds Fosse's biopic of Lenny Bruce pretty boring overall, despite Dustin Hoffman's stellar performance. It singles out the creative editing and production design for praise but complains that certain scenes make it simply not fun to watch. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/679363/every-bob-fosse-movie-ranked-worst-to-best/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/lenny.md