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Trumbo

EMAILPRINTSamuel Goldwyn Films, Red Envelope Entertainment

Trumbo reviews
71
7.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by: Christopher Trumbo

Directed by: Peter Askin

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 27, 2008

Running Time: 96 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Language(s): Black and White | Color

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for a sex-related commentary

Starring Joan Allen, Brian Dennehy, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, David Strathairn, and Donald Sutherland

Trumbo is a unique, star-studded film about Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and his heroic journey from Hollywood royalty to blacklisted writer to Academy Award winner. Set against the backdrop of tremendous political unrest, audience will be given a first, emotional account of how this turmoil affected one of Hollywood’s most prolific writers. Based on the play “Trumbo”, by his son Christopher, the film features brilliant readings of some of Trumbo’s extraordinary letters performed by an A list cast, interlaced with period and contemporary interviews, and, rare video shot by his family and friends (The Samuel Goldwyn 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...

91

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Trumbo sexes up Trumbo's already dramatic story with a massive infusion of star power.

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88

TV Guide Ken Fox

Peter Askin's powerful documentary serves as an important reminder of our First Amendment rights, and a tribute to one man who fought to preserve them in the face of Congressional intimidation.

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83

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

That's Trumbo's message -- that the true victim was America.

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83

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Family home movies and photos and archival clips round out the film, which holds its hero-worshiping to fairly tolerable levels.

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80

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Trumbo is a terrific picture, a blend of interviews and archival footage and readings of Trumbo's letters and speeches.

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80

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Today few would dispute Trumbo's assessment of that very dark period: "The blacklist was a time of evil, and no one who survived it on either side came through untouched by evil."

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80

The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore

An invigorating, funny, and moving portrait of a Hollywood hero.

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75

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Trumbo, a rousing documentary as ornery, orotund and captivating as its subject (1905-1976), is an anatomy of irony.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Trumbo is welcome just to bear witness to the severe consequences meted out to one man who dared to do the right thing.

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75

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Trumbo never wavered in his belief that his persecution was only a horrible symptom. He understood the real victim of blacklist America was America itself.

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70

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

What becomes clear is that Trumbo's humor is only one thing that helped him survive the professional and personal hardships of the blacklist, which drove more than one of his Hollywood friends to kill themselves and took a toll on Trumbo's children.

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70

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

This documentary's narrative feels deliberately chronological, as the storyline adheres to the major steps of Trumbo's career. Nonetheless, the film realizes many great moments to make the writer's story – often reduced to a footnote – into an intriguing one.

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70

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

An unconventional film about an unconventional man. Part documentary, part expertly staged readings, it focuses on the unquiet life and unforgettable words of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, someone who, as his son puts it, never had to go looking for trouble because it always came to him.

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70

Variety Robert Koehler

It will serve as a fine entry point for younger auds interested in learning about the price paid by moviemakers and their families swept up in the 1950s anti-Communist net.

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70

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

The actors--most unshaven, wrinkled, so goddamned serious--steal the writer's movie, as they wring from his epistles every last drop of blood and sweat spilled by a man punished for believing his country was better than its behavior.

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60

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Donald Sutherland's passionate rendition of a speech from Trumbo's 1971 film "Johnny Got His Gun" (based on his novel) is worth the price of admission.

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60

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Trumbo doesn't pretend to be tough-minded about its subject, and its failure to date the letters is an annoyance. But the substance of those letters, along with documentary footage and a touching appearance by Kirk Douglas, throws a baleful light on a bleak chapter of American history.

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25

New York Post Kyle Smith

The misleading documentary Trumbo paints a golden nimbus of holiness around the onetime highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood, Dalton Trumbo, an on-the-record hater of democracy, defender of authoritarian rule and avowed Communist.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

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

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