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My Kid Could Paint That
My Kid Could Paint That Image
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Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Laura Olmstead, Mark Olmstead, Marla Olmstead
  • Summary: 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) … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    100
    It is a wonder, marked by a sense of wondrous skepticism that has nothing to do with cynicism.
  2. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    100
    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.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: James Greenberg
    60
    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.

See all 25 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. CoriK.
    9
    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.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. JayW.
    9
    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.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Eldon
    8
    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...… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 4 User Reviews

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