66
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinDespite its omissions, the film proves a rich and satisfying meal and should be embraced by Chaplin fans and completists.
- 80Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonWall Street JournalJohn AndersonMiddleton and Spinney are all about the medium’s first megawatt celebrity, who is a slippery enough subject all by himself, one treated here with affection, intelligence and an unadoring tone that’s intriguing all by itself.
- 80Time OutPhil de SemlyenTime OutPhil de SemlyenThat’s a lot of years to wrangle into one biography – even before you take in the rags-to-riches, zero-to-hero-to-popular-villain arc of his life – but this snappy and searching doc makes a very solid fist of it.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawThis film may not have all that much new material but it piercingly asks the right questions about Chaplin’s elusive reality.
- 75IndieWireChristian BlauveltIndieWireChristian BlauveltClocking under two hours, The Real Charlie Chaplin is less concerned with being an exhaustive biography than trying to pinpoint what Chaplin’s life means to film history and how we might think of him today. It’s an approach that, while not entirely successful here, could help introduce newcomers to classic film rather than preach to the already converted.
- 60Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganScreen DailyFionnuala HalliganThis meticulous documentary can’t quite overcome the inevitability of its rise-and-fall trajectory, the familiarity of its sad-clown hypothesis.
- 60The IndependentClarisse LoughreyThe IndependentClarisse LoughreyThe conclusion that Chaplin remains inscrutable feels neither new nor substantial.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe filmmaking choices all too frequently muddle any potential insight, yet the documentary contains so much good stuff that fans of the subject might be powerless to resist.
- 50The New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe New York TimesNicolas RapoldThe tell-all promise of the film’s title dwindles away into predictable perspectives from members of his family. But this introduction to Chaplin shines whenever he performs, displaying his comic genius for doing everything wrong to absolute perfection.