Paul Schrader Los Angeles Free Press Jan 24, 2020

A showcase for [director Milos] Forman's unique talents.

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David Harris Spectrum Culture Oct 9, 2019

In the microcosm of the ball, there are no bad intentions, just ideas of grandeur that fall sweetly short.

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Lauren Humphries-Brooks Suddenly A Shot Rang Out Oct 11, 2018

The film is shot through with the darkest of Czech humor-everyone, from the committee to the people to the landscape itself is the butt of a joke, representative of petty rivalries, drunken idiocy, and smug leadership that cannot lead.

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Penelope Houston The Spectator Jul 14, 2018

Although the film is enormously engaging, its humour is by no means all comfortable; nor is it meant to be.

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Richard Brody The New Yorker Sep 18, 2017

In 1967, the year before Soviet tanks rampaged through Czechoslovakia, the Czech director Milos Forman subtly, scathingly used the premise of a quaint provincial party to mock the Party.

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Dan Jardine Cinemania Feb 11, 2015 89/100

I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard that I cried, but I did for The Firemen's Ball, and more than once.

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Jamie Graham Total Film Sep 19, 2014 4/5

A socio-political satire that thrums with warmth and spontaneity, yet so enraged Communist authorities it was banned.

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David Parkinson Radio Times Sep 19, 2014 4/5

Begins as a gently mocking comedy of small-town manners, but ends as a blazing allegorical satire on the incompetence, insularity and ideological idiocy of the country's rulers.

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Dave Kehr Chicago Reader Sep 19, 2014

With Loves of a Blonde, it's the best work Forman's done, rooted in a social reality that has eluded him in his American projects.

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Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com Nov 3, 2012 A+

Milos Forman and his co-writers knew they were making a dangerous movie.

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Tom Milne Time Out Nov 17, 2011

Quietly, irresistibly funny in the early Forman manner (this was his first film in colour); but the belated switch to allegorical satire seems altogether too sour in the context.

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Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Jun 4, 2011

The Party, the People, and the flames that won't be extinguished

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Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Mar 31, 2011 A-

The last film of Czech Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)before leaving his country for the U.S. was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

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Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Nov 22, 2009 B

A lively but gross satire by Czech writer-director Milos Forman.

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Variety Staff Variety Mar 26, 2009

Forman has cannily used a bevy of non-actors to flesh out a practically plotless vehicle, a lively, brimming comedy on human conduct and smalltown life.

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Stephen Garrett Time Out Dec 10, 2008 3/5

The nonprofessional actors, hammy slapstick and overwrought politics make it a better conversation piece than viewing experience.

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Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Jul 28, 2007 3.5/4

It may be Forman's greatest work.

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Jake Euker F5 (Wichita, KS) Oct 10, 2005 3/5

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