"There's an exhilaration in seeing artists at the very top of their form: It almost doesn't matter what the form is, if they're pushing their limits and going for broke and it's working. We can sense their joy of achievement — and even more so if the project in question is a risky, off-the-wall idea that could just as easily have ended disastrously. Hal Ashby's Being There is a movie that inspires those feelings. It begins with a cockamamie notion, it's basically one joke told for two hours, and it requires Peter Sellers to maintain an excruciatingly narrow tone of behavior in a role that has him onscreen almost constantly. It's a movie based on an idea, and all the conventional wisdom agrees that emotions, not ideas, are the best to make movies from. But Being There pulls off its long shot and is a confoundingly provocative movie."

"What is Being There about? I've read reviews calling it an indictment of television. But that doesn't fit; Sellers wasn't warped by television, he was retarded to begin with, and has TV to thank for what abilities he has to move in society. Is it an indictment of society, for being so dumb as to accept the Sellers character as a great philosophical sage? Maybe, but that's not so fascinating either. I'm not really inclined to plumb this movie for its message, although I'm sure that'll be a favorite audience sport. I just admire it for having the guts to take this weird conceit and push it to its ultimate comic conclusion."

"Richard A. Dysart - Dr. Robert Allenby"

"Richard McKenzie - Ron Steigler"

"The movie presents us with an image, and while you may discuss the meaning of the image, it is not permitted to devise explanations for it."

"I like to watch."

"This is just like television, only you can see much further."

"That was a very small room."

"[while watching Chance on television] It's for sure a white man's world in America. Look here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant. And I'll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir. Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th' ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you've gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want. Gobbledy-gook!"

"Life is a state of mind."

"Frankie Jonas - little boy in museum (uncredited)"

"Jonah Hill - Brandon (pronounced "Brundon") (uncredited)"

"Ed Helms - Larry's assistant at Daley Devices (uncredited)"

"Thomas Lennon - Orville Wright (uncredited)"

"Keith Powell - Tuskegee Airman #1"

"Craig Robinson - Tuskegee Airman #2"

"Shawn Levy - Infomercial father"

"George Foreman - himself"

"Kennith Overbey - Tuskegee Airman #3 (uncredited)"

"Jonas Brothers - Cherubs"

"Eugene Levy - Einstein Bobbleheads (voice)"

"Brad Garrett - Easter Island Head"

"Robin Williams - Theodore Roosevelt (statue) and Theodore Roosevelt (bronze bust)"

"Jay Baruchel - Sailor Joey Motorola"

"Carroll Spinney - Oscar the Grouch (voice)"

"Jake Cherry - Nicky Daley"

"Rami Malek - Ahkmenrah"

"Charles Fleischer - Roger Rabbit (voice)"

"Mizuo Peck - Sacagewea"

"Steve Coogan - Octavius"

"Ricky Gervais - Dr. McPhee"

"Alain Chabat - Napoleon Bonaparte"

"Bill Hader - Gen. George Armstrong Custer"

"Owen Wilson - Jedediah"

"Hank Azaria - Kahmunrah/The Thinker/Abraham Lincoln"

"Jon Bernthal - Al Capone"

"Christopher Guest - Ivan the Terrible"