Many reviews of dictionaries are exercises in linguistics instead of exercises in lexicography. This paper aims to establish a framework for the review of dictionaries with the focus on the dictionary as a subject of investigation. There are three approaches to reviewing a dictionary, namely the lexicographic, the factual and the linguistic. These approaches should be combined with the three significant features of the dictionary: its lexicographic potential, its lexicographic data and its lexicographic structures. For this purpose the reviewer's matrix is introduced, and the use of reviewer teams is suggested. It is a fundamental requirement that a dictionary review gives a true and fair view of the dictionary. This is only possible if the aspects addressed in the review are relevant and material, if the criticism is reliable, and if the reviewer treats the dictionary, its lexicographers and publishers in a neutral way.