while the act of gracefully condensing this big book into a coherent movie is indeed impressive, the truth is that said movie does end up feeling a bit like glorified cliff's notes, albeit ones enlivened by Iannucci's gift for volleying banter
the meta-fiction may be overdone, but that and the director’s feeling for tone create the expansive atmosphere in which a talented multiracial cast lead by Dev Patel can master everything from pure melodrama to high comedy
on brightly lit lawns captured by cockeyed Terry Gilliam-esque camera angles, the film comes to fizzy, jaunty life -- nearly all of Iannucci's aggression has been squeezed into storyboarding
delightfully modern Charles Dickens adaptation; Armando Iannucci's "The Personal History of David Copperfield" comes across as a bright and jaunty corrective to the dour and stuffy Dickens adaptations that have come before
Armando Iannucci's "The Personal History of David Copperfield" turns the Charles Dicken's well-loved autobiographical epic into a fast-moving yarn, sometimes hilarious and always entertaining
Armando Iannucci has made his most human film, an attempt to find something helpful, funny and above all positive to help us to navigate the sorry state of Britain of today
a buoyant and incredibly funny crowd-pleaser; It's a story that remains as witty and resilient as its main character and its charms, like David's, remain impossible to resist
by Kate Taylor [The Globe and Mail ]
by Joshua Rothkopf [Time Out New York ]
