Man of the Year

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Man of the Year

PG-13

Released Oct 13, 2006

1h 55m

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

22%

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145 Reviews

45%

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100,000+ Ratings

Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams), the satirical host of a political talk show, decides to shake things up by running for president after making comments that he would be a better president than the leader who currently occupies the White House. His fans begin a grassroots campaign that catapults him into the Oval Office, but soon after moving in it is revealed a computer glitch mistakenly awarded him the presidency. Tom is left with a tough choice, stay the course or head back behind the microphone.

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Critics Consensus

Weakened by second-half attempts at thriller and romance, this presidential comedy also fails to hit any sharp political notes, resulting in a confused and unsatisfying mess.

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Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

Too compromised to be more than a reasonably pleasurable entertainment, as if it is scared about what it is saying about the American political process.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 2, 2007

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

This being Robin Williams, it's hard to find his routines as vote-winningly hilarious as they're meant to be.

Nov 2, 2007

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Karl French

Financial Times

There are good moments, although it doesn't work properly either as a satirical thriller or a rom-com.

Nov 2, 2007

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

Man of the Year had the potential to be one of the all-time comedy masterpieces had it not shifted tones during the film's second hour.

Rated: 3.5/5

Sep 23, 2024

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

Barry Levinson's Man of the Year is a negligible and insipid film. If one takes a storyline "from the headlines," one should do it with some depth or not bother at all.

Feb 14, 2021

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

A mess of incongruous ideas that even Williams can't redeem or effectively rib.

Rated: 4/10

Nov 21, 2020

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Audience Member

Don't understand poor ratings, possibly reviewed by politicians. The movie is better than the reviews. 2006 (tech) feels like yesterday and was 20 years ago! We no longer have outdoor standalone phone booths. If you decide not to watch the movie the last joke by Robin Williams was "politicians are like diapers that need to be changed frequently and for the same reason".

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/14/25

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Stephen C

Funny in 1 hour and 55 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated PG-13 for Drug Related Material, Brief Violence, Language and Some Crude Sexual References!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $37,400,000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Robin Williams' character won the election by error!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/14/25

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Audience Member

Considered a box office bomb in 2006 but when you reflect on the direction the political landscape has shifted over the last 20 years with the ensuing clown show, the film was alarmingly prophetic with it's sinister plot line of a computer glitch determining the election outcome and Amy Pohler's razor-sharp line of "we just do fake news and jokes". Quite ahead of its time, really.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/06/25

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Juan S

Maybe this movie wasn’t received well in 2006 but as a first watch in current year I can say this movie was highly entertaining and even touching.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/19/25

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Bob S

I was surprised when I saw all the bad reviews directed towards this film. I think Robin Williams and rest of the cast put up a great performance, and the story is a solid one (maybe prescient, even). Underrated for sure!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/25

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Melissa M

Finally a political movie that it's fresh & unique. A dramatic & satirical look at the political circus. Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Robin Williams, Laura Linney give outstanding performances. It's an interesting perspective of what would happen if voting was done electronically. The scenes with the political debates are as close to realistic as possible. Robin Williams as Tom Dobbs is probably one of the best performances of his career. It really captures his dramatic as well as his comedic side. The scene where they're playing paintball is LOL. This movie is definitely underrated. One of the best dramatic comedies that has come along in a while. It shows that Hollywood still has somewhat of an imagination.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/19/25

Full Review

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Barry Levinson

Director

Robin Williams

Tom Dobbs

Laura Linney

Eleanor

Christopher Walken

Jack Menken

Lewis Black

Eddie Langston

Jeff Goldblum

Stewart

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38%

72%

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Synopsis

Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams), the satirical host of a political talk show, decides to shake things up by running for president after making comments that he would be a better president than the leader who currently occupies the White House. His fans begin a grassroots campaign that catapults him into the Oval Office, but soon after moving in it is revealed a computer glitch mistakenly awarded him the presidency. Tom is left with a tough choice, stay the course or head back behind the microphone.

Director: Barry Levinson
Producer: Barry Levinson, Robert N. Fried, James G. Robinson
Screenwriter: Barry Levinson
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Morgan Creek Productions
Rating: PG-13 (Drug Related Material|Brief Violence|Language|Some Crude Sexual References)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 13, 2006, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 26, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $37.4M
Runtime: 1h 55m
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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