--- title: "Quiz Show: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/quiz-show/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/quiz-show" critics_score: 81 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." --- # Quiz Show (1994): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 10 reviews: 10 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews are uniformly favourable. Robert Redford’s direction takes most of the credit, for turning a footnote in 1950s television history into a drama about complicity and the price of fame without letting it turn ponderous. Paul Attanasio’s screenplay is praised for its wit and its grip on the period, and the performances are singled out repeatedly, with Ralph Fiennes and Paul Scofield named most often. Several critics read it as a story about America losing something, respect for intelligence or plain innocence, to the ratings. The spread is narrow; nobody dislikes the film, and the lower scores come from critics who find it slightly less than it wants to be. The New Yorker thinks it does not fully sell its ideas about class, and The Independent finds it overlong, with some shapeless scenes. Consequence argues the film is more forgiving of television than its reputation suggests, and that the network executive’s defence of the rigging is meant to land. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Rating 4/4. 16 September 1994. Redford directs a smart, subtle drama that works as entertainment, history, and moral challenge, showing how the 1950s quiz-show scandal marked a shift away from respect for intelligence and toward ratings-driven fakery. The film excels at capturing class and racial tensions, the complicity of networks and sponsors, and the lasting personal cost to contestants like Van Doren. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/quiz-show-1994) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 September 1994. The film is a supremely elegant and thoughtful parable about awakening from false values and misplaced optimism in American life. It transcends its 1950s setting with a piercing disillusionment that still resonates. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/14/movies/film-review-quiz-show-good-and-evil-in-a-more-innocent-age.html) ## Empire — Kim Newman Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. Redford's direction finds weight and relevance in the 1950s quiz show scandal without becoming ponderous, anchored by strong performances and sharp observation of media and celebrity culture. The film is praised as his best as director, rich in character, wit and heart. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/quiz-show-review/) ## Time Out — TCh Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 February 2012. Redford has fashioned an impeccably nuanced Faustian drama from a brilliant screenplay that aspires to capture America's fall from grace at the end of the 1950s. The film is perfectly pitched, brimming with insight and wit. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/quiz-show) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 16 September 1994. Redford and screenwriter Attanasio turn a seemingly minor historical footnote into an absorbing drama about moral ambiguity and the affability of evil, with a structure that gives equal weight to Van Doren, Goodwin, and Stempel. The film succeeds through its subtle lens on complicity, temptation, and American dreams of quick success, anchored by standout performances especially from Fiennes and Scofield. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-16-ca-39115-story.html) ## Radio Times — Alan Jones Rating 4/5. Intelligently crafted by director Robert Redford, this is a riveting account of a true-life 1950s TV quiz show scandal involving fraud and corruption. It reveals much about American ethics, manners and morals, and the true price of fame. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-swv3up/quiz-show/) ## The Guardian — Alex von Tunzelmann Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 14 December 2012. The critic praises the film's excellent performances, quick-witted screenplay and strong sense of historical truths in depicting the 1950s quiz show rigging scandal. It singles out the accurate portrayal of the contrast between contestants Stempel and Van Doren for particular note. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/dec/14/quiz-show-robert-redford) ## The Independent Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 26 February 1995. Redford's urbane and witty film explores the 1950s Twenty-One scandal and America's loss of innocence to television, with standout performances especially from Ralph Fiennes and Paul Scofield. It is thoughtful and meticulously detailed but overlong in places with some shapeless scenes. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/cinema-redford-1-stone-0-a-e-t-1574990.html) ## The New Yorker — Terrence Rafferty Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 September 1994. Redford’s film is a speedy, absorbing and entertaining chronicle of the rigged quiz shows that succeeds as a witty, vigorous evocation of the 1950s media world. It falls short of fully selling its ideas about class dynamics in American society. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/09/19/1994-09-19-102-tny-cards-000149855) ## Consequence Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 September 2014. The critic argues Quiz Show is more nuanced than the typical view of it as a simple indictment of television, praising its perspective on manipulation in entertainment and its ambiguity between idealism and practicality. They single out the film's ending and the NBC exec's defense of the rigging as effectively showing that such practices are inherent to show business rather than villainous. [Read the review](https://consequence.net/2014/09/quiz-show-isnt-an-indictment-of-television/) --- © 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/quiz-show.md