Great World of Sound
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
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  1. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    100
    The result is a beguiling and often poignant pageant of outsider musicians, but the broken heart of this extraordinary film comes directly from Zobel's own personal experience.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    A terrific, small, funny, sad movie.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    83
    Great World Of Sound is painfully specific about the music-scouting grind.
  4. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Great World of Sound, a Sundance hit, is Zobel’s first film, a confident, sure-handed exercise focusing on the American Dream, turned nightmare.
  5. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    The laughs flow, but Zobel isn't content to rely solely on them. To his credit, he allows Martin and Clarence - and the film - to develop consciences.
  6. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Bill White
    75
    Once the story moves up north to Indianapolis, things become pat and predictable. But for its first 80 minutes, Great World of Sound hits all the right notes.
  7. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    70
    Morally ambiguous, subtly crafted, resolutely free of cliché and made with almost no money, The Great World of Sound is under-the-radar independent filmmaking in the Jarmusch-Cassavetes mode, both noble and ruthless in spirit.
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Tim Grierson
    70
    A fitting 21st-century addition to the genre. The film's meager plotting and casual melancholy peg it as a modest indie, but these ingredients dovetail nicely with Zobel's bigger theme about the futility of the modern world.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    Enthusiastically received at Sundance, "Great World" is an intriguing look at our obsession with being successful and famous.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    70
    I found Mr. Zobel’s film touching and amusing, but it also left me a bit queasy.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    70
    Blessed with a witty script (by Zobel and co-writer George Smith), a talented ensemble of little-known character actors and a Meredith Willson-like feel for just-plain-folks Americans, this is a low-key but enormously charming picture.
  12. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    50
    The joke is that the salesmen believe they're actually trying to discover talent and - like the people they're encouraging - are victims.
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    50
    Difficult to watch, and the film is sabotaged by an impossibly naive lead character and the repetitive auditions that become gratuitously depressing.

User Reviews

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User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. ChadS.
    6
    Be the mafia the next time your friend/relative sings for you, looks at you, and asks you that fateful question, "So what do you think?" Tell the truth. Don't let them chase a pipe dream. Believe me, it's better to be shot in the heart by a loved one than to receive some indifferent headshot from a complete stranger. Die in privacy; it's less humiliating. In "Great World of Sound", hopeless musical act after hopeless musical act of varying badness perform for two arts-and-repetoire men, who scam these starry-eyed performers with "oblivious" written all over their painfully earnest faces, because they were never told the truth. Gauging if Clarence(Kene Holliday) and Martin(Pat Healy) knew that their employers were con artists when they came aboard is open for debate, since these two men are newbies to the industry. In private, neither man ever questions the commercial viability of these musical acts. At what point does Clarence and Martin understand that their standard business practice for signing up "talent" is unscrupulous and unsound? They eventually do have an open dialogue about their dirty little secret(everybody sucks!), but exactly how long was this mutual admission in the making? Conditioned, we are, as an "American Idol"-nation, to laugh at poor singers and naive musicians, "Great World of Sound" will disappoint those expecting William Hung knockoffs, or a schizophrenic guitarist like the immortal Wesley Willis, because these auditioners perform without a trace of comic affectation. You won't laugh. You'll cringe. These are acts that even Danny Rose wouldn't touch.… Full Review »
  2. MattW.
    10
    What a wonderful film. A little light on story, but overflowing with intriguing characters. The performances of the two leads are top-notch and truly engaging.… Full Review »
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