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My Kid Could Paint That
Sony Pictures Classics


8.1

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
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FILM:

Fighter

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language

Starring Amir Bar-Lev, Anthony Brunelli, Elizabeth Cohen, Michael Kimmelman, Laura Olmstead, Mark Olmstead, and Marla Olmstead

In the span of only a few months, 4-year-old Marla Olmstead rocketed from total obscurity into international renown – and sold over $300,000 dollars worth of paintings. She was compared to Kandinsky and Pollock, and called “a budding Picasso.” But not all of the attention was positive. From the beginning, many faulted her parents for exposing Marla to the glare of the media and accused the couple of exploiting their daughter for financial gain. Others felt her work was, in fact, comparable to the great Abstract Expressionists – but saw this as emblematic of the meaninglessness of Modern Art. And then, five months into Marla’s new life as a celebrity and just short of her fifth birthday, a bombshell dropped. CBS’ 60 Minutes aired an exposé suggesting strongly that the paintings were painted by her father, himself an amateur painter. As quickly as the public built Marla up, they tore her down. The Olmsteads were barraged with hate mail, ostracized around town, sales of the paintings dried up, and Marla’s art dealer considered moving out of Binghamton. Embattled, the Olmsteads turned to the filmmaker to clear their name. Torn between his own responsibility as a journalist and the family’s desire to see their integrity restored, the director finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a situation that can’t possibly end well for him and them, and could easily end badly for both. (Sony Classics)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Amir Bar-Lev
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 4, 2008 Theatrical: October 5, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	82 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

It is a wonder, marked by a sense of wondrous skepticism that has nothing to do with cynicism.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a dissection of how the media found and fed and nurtured the story in their insatiable need for content to fill their news hours and talk shows, how it just as quickly turned on them and transformed the story from celebration to vilification, and how the public turned right along with them.

100

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Amir Bar-Lev's documentary is fascinating on all kinds of levels: as a movie about the nature of art, the lure and pitfalls of celebrity, and the complicated conundrums of parenting.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Amir Bar-Lev's engrossing film is as much about the stubborn ambiguities of art, truth, meaning, and relationships as it is about the authenticity of the Olmstead oeuvre.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

When others can't see what parents see, there's an inescapable ache. As much as anything, My Kid Could Paint That is about that ache.

Film Threat Sally Foster

Aside from being a captivating and highly interesting film, Bar-Lev's My Kid Could Paint That is also something extremely rare – a piece of honest journalism.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Bar-Lev also explores the freakish popular appeal of child prodigies, the family dynamics that come into play when a child's celebrity and earning capacity overshadows the adults', and the remarkably conflicted and contradictory admissions drawn from Brunelli about Marla's work.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Features entertainingly brainy musings from New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman, and comments from child psychologists, friends and Marla collectors.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The result is a true conundrum: You can't say for sure if a scam is in play or if a genuine genius is being smeared. And the brilliance of the film is that it doesn't let you feel secure in choosing either side.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

My Kid Could Paint That's about art—and it IS art, among the best documentaries ever made about that elusive process of manufacturing something out of nothing. But it's also a must-see for every single parent who believes their children are special, when all they want to be is your children.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The mystery has never been resolved, but to his credit Bar-Lev acknowledges that he himself has become part of the story, torn between sympathy and suspicion.

Empire Will Lawrence

A highly engaging documentary that recounts a remarkable tale. Young Marla is clearly talented, but so too is her father…

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Documentary gold, and you will have formed an opinion on the controversy by the time you leave the theater. You may not know art, but you'll know what you like.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Because Bar-Lev fails to go the extra mile either as a filmmaker or a friend, My Kid Could Paint That is at best "documentary silver."

San Francisco Chronicle Kenneth Baker

No one emerges unpunished.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The winner of this year's audience award for best documentary at Sundance has it all: heartless media, art fraud and a four-year-old painting prodigy.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

In the last analysis, I guess it all reduces to taste and instinct. Some paintings are good, says me, or says you, and some are bad. Some paintings could be painted by a child, some couldn't be.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Everyone involved, from Marla's defensive parents to the cynical journalists who promoted and then turned on her, seems to have some sort of agenda.

Variety Dennis Harvey

The popular human-interest story of a child prodigy becomes an engrossing meditation on truth, media exploitation and the value of art in My Kid Could Paint That.

Village Voice Nathan Lee

What began as a human-interest story for filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev led down stranger paths than the Duchampian conundrums of modern art.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Struggles to maintain a sober, evenhanded tone about an utterly ridiculous story.

The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg

The film and the controversy should generate interest at the boxoffice, but it's more a story about media manipulation and parental responsibility than art.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Mr. Bar-Lev has made an excellent documentary, but it would have been better if he had not made it at all.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The longer it goes, the more frustrating it becomes, as Bar Lev declines to come down on one side or the other.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

My conclusion is that exploitation of a child for the sake of one's career is a shameful act.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eldon gave it an8:
The whole story is truly fascinating. I found it interesting the questions that were raised as well as the ones that weren't. To watch a situation play out where you're questioning the minds of everyone, including Amir Bar-Lev... you really want an answer, but what is that answer? I did get the feeling that something, I don't know what, isn't adding up here. I suppose that has become the inherent question here...

Martin M. gave it an8:
The film isn't entirely enjoyable but isn't a pain, and has an interesting story that I didn't know existed. Some of the critics are just letting their feelings about the story itself influence their rating of the film, like an oil executive rates a movie about global warming.

Cori K. gave it a9:
Fascinating...I think she painted them but I think her father eggs her on because Marla asks for his input and he looks guilty when his wife suggests a lie detector test.

Jay W. gave it a9:
Tracing the rocky arc of an alleged child progidy and his conflicted parents, this slap at the pretensions of modern art ultimately ends in a completely unexpected place. A must-see.

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My Kid Could Paint That Sony Pictures Classics

My Kid Could Paint That
Sony Pictures Classics