The Trials of Ted Haggard

Baltimore SunDavid Zurawik

Pelosi chronicles what happened to Haggard and his family with sensitivity, clarity and perspective.

Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond

What a profoundly sad, often invasive but ultimately fascinating documentary portrait this is of the fallen pastor of Colorado's New Life Church.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

HBO's The Trials of Ted Haggard offers an extraordinarily humane depiction of the former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, who fell from their good graces after a scandal involving gay sex and drugs.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

The Trials of Ted Haggard is strangely intriguing....It’s a cautionary tale for disgraced public figures; for viewers it’s a master class in the art of self-serving remorse and hubris dressed up as humility.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Having clearly gained his confidence, Pelosi peels back the symbol enough to expose fleeting glimpses of the man underneath -- peddling only himself, and, as in his door-to-door gig, unable to make the sale.

Slant Magazine

The surprisingly compelling documentary The Trials of Ted Haggard chronicles the hardships former mega-church pastor Ted Haggard has faced in the years following his fall from "grace."

PopMattersCynthia Fuchs

His struggle remains unresolved in Trials, on multiple levels. Even as the film appears “sympathetic” toward Haggard, it never adopts his worldview.

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

The Trials of Ted Haggard is a strange, disturbing, imperfect but in the end heartbreaking little film that may wind up being the most powerful indictment of homophobia since "Brokeback Mountain."

NewsdayVerne Gay

This portrait -- even more than [Pelosi's] amusing 2002 puff piece on Bush's 2000 campaign, "Journeys With George" -- reveals her strengths and weaknesses as a reporter. She's got a good ear and an open heart. She just needs a little more left-brain action.

Washington PostAlan Cooperman

No matter where you stand on the culture wars, you can't help but like him. He's tortured, and for all this film's real and manufactured intimacy, Pelosi never plumbs how.

New York PostLinda Stasi

Pelosi should have done more than be satisfied that Haggard (who looks like he would have talked to a rock) talked to her. It takes more than luck to be insightful and she missed it all. Oh yeah...aside from that, Ted's lies do make interesting viewing.

SalonHeather Havrilesky

Pelosi's film doesn't really provide the sort of unforgiving peek behind the curtain that we might've hoped for. At times, in fact, The Trials of Ted Haggard feels less like a search for the truth and more like a collaboration between Pelosi (as publicist) and Haggard (as client with a tarnished image) to pull Haggard's name out of the gutter.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

It is long on sympathy and short on insight.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

The movie has the style, but none of the substance, of intimacy.

Entertainment WeeklyNicholas Fonseca

Documentarian Alexandra Pelosi handles Haggard with kid gloves and barely speaks to the wife and children whose lives he all but destroyed. The result is 45 minutes ill-spent with, well, a loser.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

The Haggard of this film has a slightly more humble tone than the Haggard of the past. Still, he never details any specific wrongdoing, speaking only in terms of struggles, temptations and weaknesses.