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Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 18
  3. Negative: 1 out of 18
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    91
    Greenwald floats the vital issue of whether Wal-Mart should be restrained by antimonopoly regulations, but his real question is cultural: Even with its rock-bottom prices, is Wal-Mart in the best interest of American consumers?
  2. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    90
    The cut-rate colossus didn't just ride the tide that sucked industrial jobs out of our towns and cities and spat out low-wage service-sector jobs in the sprawling exurbs -- it helped create it, and at the very least drastically accelerated it.
  3. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    Important, awareness-building documentary.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    88
    The movie's masterstroke is to avoid interviewing the usual anti-globalist suspects and let solid, hard-working middle Americans speak.
  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Anita Gates
    80
    Makes its case with breathtaking force.
  6. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    80
    For all its missteps, the movie powerfully suggests that Wal-Mart is capable of demoralizing a community so thoroughly that it doesn't have the spirit to carry on its life outside the big box.
  7. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    75
    Left-wing flame-thrower Robert Greenwald (Uncovered: The War on Iraq) gets after the global giant anyway, and he may have you thinking twice before entering another Wal-Mart parking lot.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    75
    Compelling and frequently entertaining.
  9. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    70
    The list of ills is endless, well-researched, and cross-referenced repeatedly for emphasis. That makes the film a bit of a slog at times, but the fury and grief of the folks interviewed propel it forward.
  10. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Melissa Levine
    70
    An affecting piece of work.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kenneth Turan
    70
    An engrossing, muckraking documentary about the retail giant that's been called "the world's largest, richest and probably meanest corporation." But if you're expecting an angry diatribe, you're going to be disappointed.
  12. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    67
    It's not a question of agreeing or disagreeing with this film's point of view to say that it isn't as often convincing as it is convinced.
  13. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    67
    While the film is obviously meant as a call to arms, the very single-mindedness of the approach could work against it.
  14. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    60
    Lacks the cinematic panache to elevate it above the level of agitprop. But its all too relevant dissection of its subject is well worth paying attention to.
  15. Empire
    Reviewed by: David Hughes
    60
    With more thorough editing this could have been on a par with Greenwald's previous films. His source material is gripping, but not life-changing.
  16. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: James Crawford
    60
    Viewers may not be surprised to learn of Wal-Mart's horrific track record, but they can't deny Greenwald's airtight advocacy.
  17. Variety
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    60
    For all the film's provocations and documentation, however, Greenwald never seems get to the heart of the matter: that it is the consumer who makes Wal-Mart powerful.
  18. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    25
    Wal-Mart's home office in Bentonville, Ark., can rest easy: Greenwald, as usual, is hysterically preaching to the choir.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. BigTimer
    10
    Excellent insight into powerful corporation that doesn't understand or want to understand "social responsibility" or how to take care of their own.… Full Review »
  2. JohnBoy
    6
    The film ends with a strange self-absorved thud of idolatry for the cause. Its use of music was excessively manipulative and unnecessarily so. I have to feel that an opportunity was wasted and that, in the end, the good that this film could've done would be erased by its senseless execution of not letting the story speak for itself. I gave it a 7 because I know what Wal-Mart is about and they've presented a rather damning argument despite its poor sense of what makes a quality documentary.… Full Review »
  3. NeemaS
    2
    Where's the comparisons to other companies? Where's the focus on the consumers that save thousands of dollars each year? Where';s the employees who couldn't get jobs elsewhere? This is a classic mockumentary: political advertisement disguised as real film.… Full Review »
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