68
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineA mesmerizing odyssey through the mind of a uniquely talented performer, as well as through one of the gorier chapters of modern history.
- 88Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrGray's haunted, obsessional riffs are absorbing theater. Because Demme had the good sense to lay back and not beat them over the head with his cameras, they're equally compelling on film. [27 Mar 1987]
- 80The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinMr. Gray's feature-length monologue brings people, places and things so vibrantly to life that they're very nearly visible on the screen.
- 80Washington PostRita KempleyWashington PostRita KempleyIt's not the monotonous, neurotic's ego trip you'd imagine, but a karate-chop crawl against a rising tide of complacency.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertThis curious idea for a movie actually works.
- 70VarietyVarietySpalding Gray's free-associating recollection of his experiences in Thailand during the making of The Killing Fields had an exhilarating immediacy which is mostly absent in this compressed filmed performance of Swimming to Cambodia.
- As lectures go, this may be the most fun one yet.
- 50Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderVery much a matter of shared taste and attitude, but cultural outsiders had best beware.
- 30TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelHis is a dispassionate sensibility, and he is not a strong enough actor - nor has he a strong enough intelligence - to fight his way out of the false analogy he has drawn between moviemaking and tragic history in the making.