50
Occasionally funny, sometimes inspiring, often boring, the magic is minimal in The Mystic Masseur.
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50
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
A haunting allegory about the rise and fall of a figure who possesses powerful charisma, if weak karma.
40
Ismail Merchant's screen adaptation retains much of the novel's incident, but fumbles both the humor and moral ambivalence.
63
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
There is a very sharp, funny critique of ambition and self-made gurus in The Mystic Masseur, but it is obscured by a softening bloat.
63
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
It's only because the performances are so vividly entertaining -- Mandvi and Puri are particularly good -- and the painstakingly reconstructed locations so lovely that the saggier sequences are tolerable.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
The result is an eccentric, amusing fable that moves at an unhurried island pace, a picturesque tale that Merchant seems to have invested with an almost personal sense of spirit.
63
Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow
At its best, The Mystic Masseur is like a tall tale that grows more beguiling and credible the taller it gets.
90
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Thanks to the clever, caring touch of director Ismail Merchant, working from a script by Caryl Phillips, this steadily engrossing film captures the book's bracing humor and humanity.
40
The Mystic Masseur shows more signs of life than "Cotton Mary," but it's still a producer's movie: attractively mounted, dramatically inert.