Crime After Crime
Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Lewis
    Aug 4, 2011
    100
    This film delivers an emotional wallop, and it's hard to argue against that. Don't miss it.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Jeannette Catsoulis
    Jul 1, 2011
    90
    Recording every success and setback, the wrenching documentary Crime After Crime favors the personal over the political, creating a no-frills portrait of a stoic and remarkably unembittered woman.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    Jun 30, 2011
    83
    Through the ceaseless efforts of two dedicated pro bono lawyers-both with personal reasons to keep up the fight for five or six grueling years-director Yoav Potash follows every revelation and setback with an urgency most fiction films can't muster.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    Jul 8, 2011
    80
    A deeply affecting account of the very real effect of political corruption, but also of resilience and grace.
  5. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Jul 1, 2011
    80
    This story doesn't go well with popcorn, and you won't be able to shake it off like so many blockbusters. That said, it's likely to be the most unforgettable film you see all summer.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    Jun 28, 2011
    80
    With its bittersweet outcome, this is a tremendously moving story, strong in social commitment and deftly woven out of years of footage.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Merry
    Jul 21, 2011
    75
    Some movies prove so eye-opening that a viewer may feel the urge to recount the story, start to finish, to friends and acquaintances. Crime After Crime is that kind of film.
  8. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Andrew Schenker
    Jun 28, 2011
    75
    It not only makes for riveting cinematic drama (all the more impressive given that it relies so heavily on recounted words rather than illustrated actions), but for first-rate muckraking.
  9. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Richard Nilsen
    Aug 20, 2011
    70
    As cinema, Crime After Crime is nothing special. It would be perfect for a PBS "Frontline" entry. But it reminds us, once again, that little can be quite so riveting as a well-told story from a compelling talking head.
  10. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    Jun 28, 2011
    70
    Although helmer Yoav Potash's approach is low-key and only vaguely cinematic, each instance of judicial malfeasance -- and there are many -- is allowed to toll loudly in its own moral echo chamber.
  11. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    Sep 15, 2011
    67
    I suspect it's that spirit as much as the injustice of her incarceration that drew so many people to her cause and inspired this labor-of-love documentary about her journey to hell and back.
  12. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Jun 28, 2011
    60
    The tale itself is extraordinary, so why not let it do the talking? When Crime After Crime sifts through the facts, we feel the pull of justice; those moments might be enough.
  13. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Benjamin Mercer
    Jun 28, 2011
    60
    Potash's first feature-length documentary otherwise does justice to its subject's wrenching story.
  14. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    Jul 1, 2011
    50
    Potash's film tells an important and disturbing story, but his presentation is uninspired and non-cinematic. It's best left to TV.
  15. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Vadim Rizov
    Jul 2, 2011
    40
    Stylistically dull, Crime After Crime proceeds from one talking-head interview to the next, sticking to sentiment.

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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. metamotivcritic
    9
    Although not the most cinematically adept or professional documentary of the year (and a bit too blatantly manipulative), the story of Debbie Peaglor and her interminable legal battle is so involving and so heart-breaking that it seems to me that only the heartless (ot the terminally chauvinistic) could fail to be moved by the movie. It is a stunning story from both a personal and a legal point of view; and (as in the case of The Last Mountain), it is a tragedy that so few people will see it (unless they tune it later to the Oprah network) and that the major newspapers again sent their 3rd string critics to review it. (The theater at which I saw the movie--the only theater in the area to show it--was playing it only one time per day.) The mix of personalities and backgrounds among the lead "characters" and their obvious affection for each other makes the movie even more compelling. Go see it before it closes (if it hasn't already).… Full Review »