69
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Village VoiceErnest HardyVillage VoiceErnest HardyIt's a smart, funny, tough-minded film crammed with data and personal anecdotes, each illuminating the other, each sketching in the staggering costs—and not just financial—of the ways authorities in this country have shaped the drug issue. It's far from glib.
- 80Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinAs the filmmaker unfurls the harsh, essential facts, both past and present, about America's complex relationship with drugs — along with tobacco and alcohol's longtime place in the equation — the movie gains serious power and momentum.
- 80SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirDespite its slick packaging and overtly facetious premise, director Matthew Cooke and producer Adrian Grenier’s faux-educational documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs packs a wallop.
- 80Whether or not you agree with its underlying critique of existing drug policy, How To Make Money Selling Drugs is an ambitious, creative attempt to talk in a single film about everything from the disparate treatment of black and white dealers to the influence of asset forfeiture on law-enforcement strategies to the devastation of Mexico's drug war.
- 75Slant MagazineRob HumanickSlant MagazineRob HumanickThe film employs a flashy text-and-graphics aesthetic that immediately brings to mind the satirical undercurrent of a Grand Theft Auto video game.
- As it turns out, making money selling drugs is pretty win-win as far as it goes, but keeping it is another matter. So the title isn’t so much a joke as a bleak comment on a desperately cynical economy: In the drug trade, as well as the dubious “war” declared against it, everybody ultimately loses.
- 67The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloHow to Make Money Selling Drugs is breezy fun, even when it eventually turns openly cynical.
- 60The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldThere’s a lot to learn from How to Make Money Selling Drugs, but sometimes there’s just a lot.
- 60Time OutTime OutThe question posed by the title of Matthew Cooke’s documentary seems to have a simple answer: Sell drugs. Lots of them. But this dope dealers’ DIY manifesto isn’t quite the illustrated instruction manual it sardonically promises to be, as Cooke talks to many a former pusher, from legendary kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross to small-timer 50 Cent.
- 25Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyWhile it won't win any Oscars, Matthew Cooke's new documentary How To Make Money Selling Drugs may take the prize for being the shallowest and most glib film of the year.