| 90 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
A superb portrait of a band and an industry in flux.
|
| 90 |
Chicago Reader
In the last two decades rock documentaries have become ubiquitous on TV but marginalized as cinema; this is the rare exception that earns its place on the big screen.
|
| 88 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Dan DeLuca
Tells Wilco's story so well that you'll leave the theater thinking the album is a work of genius.
|
| 88 |
Baltimore Sun
This picture is jagged and exciting; it tells several plots imperfectly, yet makes them add up to a great American story about integrity challenged and triumphant.
|
| 80 |
Washington Post
It testifies to art's vitality and endurance, despite its marketers' -- and sometimes even its makers' -- efforts to the contrary.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
A photographer for magazines like Vanity Fair and GQ, as well as a veteran director of commercials, Mr. Jones brings a trained eye to this, his first documentary. The low gray skies of Chicago prove once again to be a boon to photography, and the city has seldom looked better than it does here, in its chilly, minimalist beauty.
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| 80 |
Los Angeles Times
An exciting and involving rock music doc, a smart and satisfying look inside that tumultuous world.
|
| 78 |
Austin Chronicle
Much to cheer here, from its treasure trove of early and alternate versions of songs to the triumphant finale.
|
| 75 |
Entertainment Weekly
A modest vérité portrait of Wilco, the engagingly melodious, deeply unglam alt-folk rockers.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
This is a rare gem tripped over while making a run-of-the-mill rockumentary about a band's new album.
|
| 75 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bill White
The film perpetuates a self-congratulatory vision of the record's worth, when an opposing point of view would have provided a more balanced perspective.
|
| 70 |
Washington Post
Richard Harrington
The unexpected drama captured puts I Am Trying to Break Your Heart in the good company, if not quite the league, of "Let It Be" and "Gimme Shelter."
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
Staff (Not credited)
Shot in grainy black and white, the film features tons of entertaining footage of the band in the studio as well as an enlightening commentary from music critics Greg Kot and David Frick.
|
| 70 |
Film Threat
In 30 years’ time it might seem as incisive a document of its time as, say, “Don’t Look Back” or “Gimme Shelter.” As a study of how the current corporate idiocy impacts one man’s art, it’s priceless.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
The concert footage is stirring, the recording sessions are intriguing, and -- on the way to striking a blow for artistic integrity -- this quality band may pick up new admirers.
|
| 63 |
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
May be anticorporate, it's by no means hype-free.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
This is compelling stuff, but Jones seems almost pathologically averse to upstaging the songs themselves.
|
| 63 |
Boston Globe
To love Wilco is to believe in a certain rustic intelligence about popular music (and about yourself) and to embrace the Tweedy worldview that you need sarcasm and vagueness to cope with the pitfalls of sincerity.
|
| 50 |
New Times (L.A.)
what we've got here is a little propaganda film. A mild one, certainly, but the cliché of DIY hopefuls (band) versus the Big Machine (music industry) foments the same tedious struggle of art versus commerce.
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| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
James Sullivan
Business intrudes on art.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
A slightly dull film by photographer Sam Jones.
|
| 40 |
Village Voice
Jones's documentary, named for the opening song on Foxtrot, is most effective as a poison-pen missive to Corporate Rock.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
As Tweedy talks about canning his stockbroker and repairing his pool, you yearn for a few airborne TV sets or nude groupies on the nod to liven things up. And what do we get? Diet Coke! Tonight is definitely not the night.
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| 40 |
Variety
May leave itself open to charges of being little more than a promo feature posing as a documentary, but pic nevertheless is a warts-and-all look at a group of musicians -- and the music biz -- likely to make most record label flacks flinch.
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