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Billy the Kid

EMAILPRINTAn Elephant Eye Films

Billy the Kid reviews
75
10.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 9 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by:

Directed by: Jennifer Venditti

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 5, 2007

Running Time: 84 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Penny Baker, Billy P., and Heather Pelletier

Billy the Kid is a sensitive and humorous vérité portrait of Billy, a 15-year-old outsider growing up in small-town Maine. Billy appears, in many ways, like other teenage boys. He's into heavy metal and martial arts, is desperate to find a girlfriend, and aspires to a career as an actor and rock star. Yet in other ways Billy is unique. A troubled past and ongoing behavioral issues have left him marked. But he is unapologetic about his personality and refuses to be victimized, creating his own techniques to help him survive in an environment of pain, conformity, and prejudice. Billy is funny, sharp, strangely wise for his age, and remarkably candid. We witness life from his perspective--from intimate conversations with his mother, to being bullied at school, to his fantasies of becoming a superhero. We also experience the exhilarating pangs of first love as Billy pursues Heather, a shy 16-year-old waitress. Will Billy get the girl? Will his community accept him on his own terms? Billy the Kid challenges viewers to imagine themselves beyond labels. (Elephant Eye Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

In the end, Bill emerges as someone truly unique and someone who we feel privileged to know.

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83

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

If the film has a significant flaw, it's that Venditti never explains in the film how she found Billy, or why she's interested in him. Billy The Kid often plays more like an extended home movie than something intentional and artful.

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80

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

But what you ultimately take from the film is the awareness that this smart, self-aware, uncensored kid has been playing to a camera in his own head since well before Venditti came along.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

In her directorial debut, Venditti does her best to keep a distance between herself and her subjects. But you have to wonder how much of the Billy we see on-screen is affected by the presence of Venditti's camera.

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70

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

a movie about adolescence unlike any other; An intimate portrait of a singular personality in the making and a stark look at our culture of suspicion and conformity.

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70

New York Magazine David Edelstein

A heartbreaking vérité documentary by Jennifer Venditti about a misfit Maine teenager--a film that makes you think about (and question) what fitting in really entails.

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70

Village Voice Julia Wallace

I have seen more than 25 documentaries this year, and after a while they all start to run together, both structurally and thematically. Billy the Kid is utterly original in both respects.

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70

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Presenting neither an argument for medication nor its rejection, Billy the Kid is a deceptively simple portrait of a shockingly self-aware and articulate young man.

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50

Variety John Anderson

One of the more irresponsible eruptions in the current rash of populist nonfiction cinema.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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