Amadeus: Critic Reviews

As Mozart, Tom Hulce, though extremely American in looks and voice, gets better and better as the drama progresses.

[A] grandiose masterpiece.

A visual and aural treat.

Remains a beautiful, deftly directed and superbly acted version of a witty and poignant drama.

In a film of grand gestures, some of the finest moments are very subtle.

Reminds us that movies can be lyrical as well as vulgar, ambitious as well as playful, brilliant as well as down and dirty -- just like Amadeus himself.

Peter Shaffer's shrewdly orchestrated cultural evening gets a steady, dignified, moderately dull treatment from Milos Forman.

On a production level and as an evocation of a time and place, Amadeus is loaded with pleasures.

Like the composers the film so wondrously depicts, Amadeus: Director's Cut is a divine work in need of a little earthly restraint.

It is arguably the best motion picture ever made about the process of creation and the creator.

It's got more music, more drama, more of what made it a big winner with audiences and critics 18 years ago.

... brought a new popular interest in the music of Mozart and turned the classical composer into a pop-culture figure...

Great movie, but not quite true to history.

A witty and highly imaginative historical fiction, well adapted by screenwriter Peter Shaffer from his own hit play. [Blu-ray]

...if the director, the producer, and the writer approved of the added scenes, I'm not going to complain. One way or the other, Amadeus remains a great film.

Milos Forman's well-crafted adaptation of Peter Shaffer's superior play turns out to be a very entertaining film, although it lacks the inventiveness of the original production.

When Amadeus deals with the music -- and with the theme of greater and lesser talents in conflict -- it frequently justifies its reputation.

Such a wonderful mix of sight and sound, of humor and drama, of love and hate, of ugliness and beauty.

Two amazing performances cap a stellar work of musical imagination and creative artistry.

A smart, intelligent, and sumptuous entertainment, and for a change a Hollywood movie that captures the essence of genius and creativity, in this case Mozart's music and Salieri's sponsorship, without resorting to visual or verbal cliches.

The entire cast speaks in horribly intrusive American accents, but Forman makes some perceptive connections between Mozart's life and work.

Amadeus is a masterful combination of acting and storytelling, of sight and sound.

Anyone who has ever struggled with mediocrity, desired to master a craft, or competed with another for a prize or for love (and I imagine that's just about everyone) will sympathize with the sufferings of the forgettable Salieri.

Director Milos Forman ... gives Tom Hulce free reign to portray the world's most sublime composer as a drunken, selfish fool giggling his way into the ears of Vienna.

Not a bust, but less absorbing when all the Europeans talk Americanese.