90
A mischievously hedonistic, Chaplinesque farce, the film buoyantly but seriously traverses the horrors of World War II with a subtlety and sophistication that most American comedies cannot grasp.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
Menzel strings his sequences together with great affection and skill, but the movie, an absurdist picaresque, doesn't have much cumulative impact, and perhaps the hero is too much a lightweight to hold an epic together.
70
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
Menzel’s touch is sprightly, lyrical, mischievously understated.
80
A virtual primer on the unique mixture of self-deprecating dark humor and personal tragedy that has been the Czech cinema's stock-in-trade since their celebrated 1960s New Wave.
80
New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman
A film as unique as this is a gift that shouldn't be ignored.
50
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
The new film is so leisurely paced and overly long that what means to be at once charming yet darkly satirical lapses into tedium and barely comes alive.
90
The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett
It is a sumptuously told tale of childlike wonder in the face of darkest corruption and war, mixing high comedy, surreal sequences and genuine drama viewed from a wise, jaundiced perspective.
70
May not be a totally riveting movie, but it is, in its gently insinuating way, a curiously rewarding one.
83
I Served The King Of England views diabolical events from the sidelines, something like "The Remains Of The Day" reworked as an absurdist comedy.
70
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
The performance of Mr. Barnev, who has the poker face and agility of a silent clown, defines the style of a film whose timing and physical comedy look back to 1920s slapstick.