A smart and savvy piece of work. full review

Travolta's warmth and expansiveness effectively amplify and embellish the likable and personable side of Stanton. full review

Sheerly as film, Primary Colors generally sizzles.

Dramatically weak. full review

The movie loses something by downplaying the book's arresting contrast between Stanton's smooth dishonesty and Picker's raw sincerity. full review

Primary Colors doesn't even attempt an answer. It's content just going along for the ride. It's too busy having fun. full review

The film seldom displays much in the way of directorial hallmarks. full review

The movie is endlessly inventive and involving. full review

A slack, tepid picture stuck in a no man's land between satire and drama. full review

The movie itself makes no judgment. It's smart enough to ask you to do that by yourself and for yourself. full review

Primary Colors is the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington of our jaded era.

This entertaining but rather peculiar movie asks extraordinary questions, and I wish it were better equipped to give the answers. full review

Adapting Joe Klein's roman a clef of the same name, ferociously witty screenwriter Elaine May and her smooth old compatriot in comedy, director Mike Nichols, have made a zingy drama and have staffed it well. full review

A hilariously entertaining movie.

There are piecemeal wonders in Primary Colors, but not the grand and resonant vision the film should have been.

Like its politicians, the movie is savvy about using whatever it takes to achieve a goal.

May and Nichols may not be right for the material, especially the Searching for Jimmy Stewart component, which feels more labored as the film proceeds.

It's hard for me fully to express how deeply rotten I think Primary Colors is. Adjectives like 'glib,' 'coarse,' and 'sour' don't fully do it. full review