A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III 2013

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Sitting through The Mind of Charles Swan III does not lead to a deeper understanding of Charlie Sheen. It does, however, demonstrate his compulsion for poor judgment and bad choices. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: At best it is a mildly diverting goof with a charmless lead performance. Its underlying misogyny leaves a sour taste. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The film strangely takes it for granted that everyone adores Charlie Sheen, and is willing to extend affection to the unmistakably Charlie Sheen-like character he plays here. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: A movie that doesn't really seem to have any reason to exist, other than maybe to give writer and director Roman Coppola and star Charlie Sheen something to do for a few weeks. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This giant turkey was produced, written, and directed by Roman Coppola, who must have thought the dumb fantasy sequences, steeped in movieland imagery, would remind people of 8-1/2 (or, at the very least, Head). Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The execution ... is perilously self-absorbed ... Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: As the anticipated follow-up to Roman Coppola's "CQ" this is a letdown, but as a breezy romp it could be far, far worse. Read more

Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter: With such an in-house cast of extended Coppola family sparklers, one would think things couldn't go too wrong in the comedy department, but they have little chance to oil the wheels of a creaky script written around Sheen. Read more

Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times: A noodling indulgence that's alternately freewheeling and dead in the water. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The imaginative twists, histrionic inventions, and decorative whimsy have a winningly ingenuous and energetic cleverness; through it all, this ebulliently overblown character never manages to cut himself down to size. Read more

Joel Arnold, NPR: Charles Swan might have have been successful if its sensibilities weren't so aligned with its constantly disappointing protagonist's. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: From its puffed-up title to the way the cast playfully bows to us at the end, "Swan" is so eager to be a trippy comic lark that it ends up resembling a clown trying to fit through a pea-shooter. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Sort of like Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz'' minus the music, the wit and the insight, not to mention Roy Scheider's brilliant performance. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A film is a terrible thing to waste. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Seriously, this is one of the strangest and most painful films in recent memory. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The audience finds out just how long 84 minutes can be. The answer: really long. Read more

Robert Levin, The Atlantic: The film reveals a depth and weight to the Charlie Sheen archetype that we haven't experienced before. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the film is that it adequately depicts the narcissism of its star ... Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: This isn't a despicable film or a lazy one; it's just a doodle, a glorified home movie by a filmmaker who no doubt has one hell of a Rolodex and a few favors to call in. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: A precious, arid thing, Glimpse arrives pinned to Styrofoam like a prize arthropod. Read more

Boyd van Hoeij, Variety: Swan is more of a doodle than a fully formed idea, though not necessarily less enjoyable for it, since it was clearly intended to be an undisciplined, anything-goes kinda story. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: With neither the moral bite of satire nor a voluptuary surrender that really basks in shallowness, this is a vague, unsatisfying work. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: As Charles Swan seems to become more aware of his loneliness, Charlie Sheen seems to become more protective of his Charlie Sheen-ness. Read more