Review of Time Bandits (1981) by Pauline Kael for The New Yorker — 06 Oct 1982
When you can count the laughs in a comedy on the fingers of one hand, it isn’t so funny. Time Bandits, is a kind of potted history of man, myth and the eternal clash between good and evil as told in the inimitable idiom of Monty Python.
Not that the basic premise is bad, with an English youngster and a group of dwarfs passing through time holes on assignment by the Maker to patch up the shoddier parts of His creation. What results, unfortunately, is a hybrid neither sufficiently hair-raising or comical.
You can read the full review where it was originally posted online.
This review of Time Bandits (1981) was written by Pauline Kael and published by The New Yorker on 06 Oct 1982.
Time Bandits has generally received positive reviews.
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