80
Children of the Revolution won't leave its audiences weak with laughter, but it should have the most perceptive among them arguing in the aisles.
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100
San Francisco Examiner by Barbara Shulgasser
The scenes with Stalin and his frightened underlings, his giddy yes-men tip-toeing around him, are written and directed by Duncan with a grace, agility and comic deftness one rarely is treated to at the movies these days.
80
The New York Times by Elvis Mitchell
This comedy has less to do with narrative than with sheer chutzpah and a first-rate cast. It manages to be irreverently funny despite a subject that is no laughing matter.
75
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Not only is it based on a fairly original premise, but the humor exhibits a distinct edge.
80
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Equally impressive is Duncan's stylish handling of decor, dialogue, narrative ellipsis, and pacing, all of which call to mind the Hollywood master Ernst Lubitsch.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
A gloss on the disillusion that came with the embracing of communist ideals that is part playful farce, part dark satire, this unclassifiable film, both comic and strange, always holds your attention even when it doesn't seem to know where it's going.
67
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
This debut feature from Australian director Duncan is still a wonderful sociopolitical experiment, dripping with sarcasm and bizarre, oddball humor, which make it all the more potent.
75
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Duncan zips through five decades and dozens of characters without reducing the participants to cliches or slogans. A remarkable cast helps him to keep focused on the core of the piece.
50
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
It is enormously ambitious -- maybe too much so, since it ranges so widely between styles and strategies that it distracts from its own flow.
75
San Francisco Chronicle by Ruthe Stein
That Duncan can't come up with a satisfying ending and lets the story drift into a confusing polemic is hardly surprising. He's guilty of overreaching -- interrupting his very sly satire with quasi-serious thoughts on the end of Soviet communism.