F*ck

Film Threat Sally Foster

Provides a highly provocative and humorous overview of a word that, love it or hate it, undoubtedly holds more power than its measly four letters might suggest. All in all, I'd have to say that this film was entertaining as f*ck.

LA Weekly John Patterson

Profound and joyously silly at the same time.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

F*ck manages to strip some of the mystique from the forbidden word, and in the end, despite some road bumps, is a satisfying f*lm.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Despite the appearance of numerous free-speaking conservatives, the movie's partisanship leans nakedly to the left.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A lively and often enlightening documentary.

Variety John Anderson

The offensive word that provides the title for Steven Anderson's penetrating documentary/social critique has either enriched or infected Western culture to the point that we're either drowning in a "floodtide of filth" or blessed with the best verbal relief valve ever devised by man.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Often surprising and thought-provoking (the urge to euphemize is characterized as a drift away from reality), "****" is as funny and cathartic as the word it celebrates, and nearly as perversely shock-happy.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Is this evidence of cultural decline? It's hard to think of a short answer that wouldn't be made more vivid by the insertion of the forbidden word. So skip it. No, not the movie. What, are you kidding me? No way. Go. Help yourself.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If you're wondering how Steve Anderson managed to make a 93-minute documentary about the ultimate four-letter word, which uses the epithet over 800 times, you're underestimating his capacity to entertain and educate in roughly equal doses.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The movie doesn't add much to the culture wars, beyond histrionics from a lot of people who take their causes too f*cking seriously.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

There's a sense of self-satisfied naughtiness to the film that undercuts any claims it can make to being transgressive.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The film works best when widening its focus to include the Federal Communications Commission's often baffling and hypocritical stances regarding what's OK to say, or show, on TV and radio, and what isn't.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

It's essentially a mishmash of random ingredients, not very systematically presented and skewed to flatter its audience's presumed enlightenment.

Village Voice Rob Nelson

Aside from the historically worthy identification of General George S. Patton as a pioneering potty mouth, the film contains little or nothing in the way of surprise.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Examination of one of the English language's most useful utterances and why the sound packs such a friggin' wallop.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Much ado about nothing much at all.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Often the movie seems like a lot of empty-headed blather, with one side hating the First Amendment and the other side unable to find a better use for it but to say the f-word.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

A documentary on the F-word that manages to amuse superficially until it moves into its seventh hour, at which point it grows wearisome.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Filmmaker Steve Anderson stuffs an astonishing 800-plus mentions of the F-word into this 90-minute documentary. When the spectacle ends, the same question lingers: Why?

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

In the end, F*CK is at most a compendium of opinions and examples, and never feels like a story. Still, great casting and inventive visuals make it an entertaining big-screen experience -- and don't expect to catch it later on network television (otherwise it would have to be retitled BL**P).

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

The most dishonest thing about this ranting montage of a movie is its technique of panning between opposing viewpoints to simulate debate, when in fact each of the more than 35 celebrities was separately interviewed.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Rarely has a documentary been so pleased with itself - with so little justification.

Premiere Scott Warren

The film is ultimately so repetitive, un-enlightening and lacking in substance, even Drew Carey seems bored by the end when he asks, "When are you guys going to make the 'c*nt' documentary?"