Eyes of Tammy Faye, The

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A hilarious, sad and sometimes-inspiring documentary directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the film is an all-out Tammy valentine -- campy, dramatic and, of course, makeup-smeared. And better than any melodrama you'll see this year.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Does the movie, with its sock-puppet intros and narration by RuPaul Charles, mock Tammy Faye, sanctify her, or turn her into a flamboyant image of distressed womanly martyrdom -- the Judy Garland of televangelism? All of the above.

Slate David Edelstein

A hilarious, poignant, lovingly ironic celebration of (Tammy Faye Bakker's) rise and fall and her refusal to be broken.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

It contains nary a dull moment.

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

It's a testimony to the integrity and poignancy of Tammy Faye herself that she comes off as a cool, even complex, woman.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

It's a testimony to Tammy Faye's own integrity and enormous charisma that the film holds our attention as tightly as it does, and doesn't become an insufferable exercise in weak filmmaking.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

If The Eyes of Tammy Faye is skimpy, it's still an important correction to the record about this fascinating and misunderstood woman, who turns out to be much more than just her makeup.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Fascinating and mostly sympathetic.

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

If the mark of a successful documentary is its ability to make us examine a tired subject in a fresh way, then Eyes is a rip-roaring success.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Riveting stuff.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

All in all, she comes off as quite a complex creature.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's a tale of survival and kitsch that will win you over.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Demonstrates, if nothing else, that there's a genuine person -- chastened by mistakes and more compassionate, perhaps, for all she's suffered -- beneath the war paint and the stardust.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A lively and affectionate cross between an infomercial and a genuflection.

USA Today Mike Clark

A largely irresistible puff piece.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

She is also, we sense, a woman of great generosity of spirit, and a TV natural: The star she most reminds me of is Lucille Ball.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Only the most hardhearted would fail to be swayed by Messner's surprising strength, and -- dare I say it -- irresistible charm.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

It's highly entertaining, even if it's almost entirely one-sided.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Whatever the complicated truth about PTL, Tammy Faye's homespun charisma is undeniable; if only the Lord would give her the strength to say, "Get thee behind me, false eyelashes!"

Time Richard Schickel

Maybe this documentary is a bit too enthralled by her, but she emerges from it a game girl, a gay activist and a curiously sympathetic figure.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

(To be) thoroughly enjoyed as a privileged look at one of the loopiest of late 20th century lives.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Eyes sees what it wants to see, but it's a riveting glimpse.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It's more of a mash note than a formal documentary, and there's nothing wrong with that.

TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin

As a whole, The Eyes of Tammy Faye funnily and lively serves to show that sometimes the best movie characters are real ones and sometimes the best Christians are ones who look like crack-whores.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

A runny intimate portrait that doesn't trust Tammy Faye Messner and her story to enthrall you. So they've all but spelled it out: k-i-t-s-c-h.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

But even if the film is short on analysis and skepticism, Tammy makes for a fascinating subject anyway.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This made-for-cable opus, halfway between documentary and docudrama, is willing to try anything and everything except for a consistent relationship to its material.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

By letting her babble on and become a somewhat risible figure, the filmmakers display a somewhat mean-spirited attitude, despite all their fuss about finally appreciating this put-upon survivor.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

Cannot help but be merely another debacle that Tammy Faye will survive, eyelashes and integrity intact.