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80If anything, one wishes the film would have spent even more time with Peebles in his personal life.
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80A loving tribute to one of the strangest and most enjoyable figures to emerge from American pop culture in its entire history.
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80Lively interviews from a wide range of people, a wealth of excerpted footage stretching over decades, and a story packed with legend are served up by helmer Joe Angio with a verve mirroring the restless creativity of the film's subject.
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75Enlightening.
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70Largely content to bask in the great man's glow, Angio provides generous clips and soundbites alongside fond reminiscences, but the celebratory tone leaves room for darker reflections.
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70The film chronicles an astonishing career...Mr. Van Peebles is that rarest of modern creatures: a free man.
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67Melvin Van Peebles gets the idolatrous treatment in this documentary by first-time director Joe Angio that traces his subject's career as San Francisco cable-car conductor, rap pioneer, filmmaker, Broadway producer, stockbroker, and all-around womanizer.
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67Angio captures the outlandish twists and turns of Van Peebles' life with humor, color, and a welcome lightness of touch.
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63Angio's film is an excellent introduction, but it won't be long before you realize that his subject is too complex to be contained in a single admiring tribute. When you want to know more - and you will - you'll be glad there's somewhere else to go for a bigger picture.
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63Though the film verges on hagiography, Angio unearthed a treasure trove of fascinating clips, from the bored-looking writer-director leafing through his program at the 1971 Tony Awards.