Metacritic Movie Ratings
The Last King of Scotland Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 83

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum

  Drawing on a documentary visual style he deftly employed in "One Day in September" and "Touching the Void," director Kevin Macdonald uses McAvoy's boyishness to treat Garrigan's apolitical foolishness as yet another damn mess in one African country's hell.

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• 80

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano

  Captures the energy and exuberance of a young nation in the throes of optimism and works it into a foreboding frenzy.

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• 80

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern

  The film as a whole measures up to Forest Whitaker's performance...one of the great performances of modern movie history.

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• 75

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  Forest Whitaker is astoundingly multifaceted and convincing as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. In the performance of his career, he fully inhabits the part of the barbaric and charismatic ruler.

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• 70

  out of 100

  The New York TimesManohla Dargis

  Furiously paced, with excellent performances by Forest Whitaker as Amin and James McAvoy as the foolish Scotsman who becomes the leader's personal physician, the film has texture, if not depth and enough intelligence to almost persuade you that it actually has something of note to say.

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• 70

  out of 100

  VarietyTodd McCarthy

  In the end, The Last King of Scotland is much better when it plays it cool and amusing than when it tries to ramp up outrage and indignation.

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• 70

  out of 100

  The Hollywood Reporter

  An imaginative and original picture turns conventional as it ends.

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