Kid Stays In the Picture, The

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A candy store for film buffs.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This stuff is golden. Directors Brett Morgan and Nanette Burstein make sure the movie goes down like potato chips. It's great fun and compulsively watchable. And don't leave before Dustin Hoffman makes a hilarious appearance as the credits roll.

Film Threat Ron Wells

I've already seen at least 20 documentaries this year. They've left me amused, sad, informed, bored, pissed-off, whatever. I'm willing to bet, though, that I don't see another this year as richly entertaining or as cathartic as The Kid Stays in the Picture. Is it really that good? You better believe it.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Implicitly acknowledges and celebrates the glorious chicanery and self-delusion of this most American of businesses, and for that reason it may be the most oddly honest Hollywood document of all.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Has to be one of the must-see films for any student of Hollywood fame and infamy.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

An imaginative self-profile of producer Robert Evans, could well be the most totally irresistible movie of the summer.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A smart, funny and strangely touching film.

Slate David Edelstein

A breezy hoot, and it's gorgeous to look at.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

One of the funniest, and most telling, films of the year. The filmmakers call "Kid" a documentary, but the movie is one of the unusual kind that is firmly lodged inside the subject's perspective.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Evans makes a terrific raconteur, imitating voices and putting us behind the scenes.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A new documentary about the life of this producer who put together one of the most remarkable winning streaks in Hollywood history, and followed it with a losing streak that almost destroyed him. It's one of the most honest films ever made about Hollywood.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Opulently produced, fittingly enough, and quite entertaining as a surface ride through the up, down and somewhat up again life of one of the New Hollywood's most colorful characters.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Evans has as distinctive an American voice as Mark Twain or Vin Scully, and the directors wisely let him do the talking.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A witty, colorful and poignant account of the life and times of producer Robert Evans.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Is legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans feeding us a load of crap in this documentary? When it's this much fun, who really cares?

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Robert Evans has been variously described as the Hugh Hefner of Hollywood, a Tinseltown Gatsby, the Lancelot of the backlot.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Occasionally feels a bit suffocating, like being trapped at a party by a drunkard who won't shut up until he tells you his entire life story.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

A compelling portrait of a matchless man, who's still going strong at 72.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Fantasy, not honesty, is the point of The Kid Stays in the Picture.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Fascinating.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue

The best thing the film does is to show us not only what that mind looks like, but how the creative process itself operates: messily, erratically, outside of most people's morality, but with a force and purposiveness that makes the machinations of the rest of us look irresolute by comparison.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Evans, in effect, is the real producer here, and the film, which mostly consists of artfully blended archival footage, comes across like a last will and testament.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

If you ever suspected that assholes are running the world, this documentary adapting producer and former actor Robert Evans's autobiography, narrated with relish by Evans himself--the cinematic equivalent of a Vanity Fair article, complete with tuxes and swimming pools--offers all the confirmation you'll ever need.

New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky

It's either the world's greatest infomercial for fame (and its omnipresent companion, notoriety) or the saddest eulogy of all.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

This is classic Hollywood, at its best and worst, sticky rich and scabrous. It may not be the truth, per se, but it sure sounds good.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

If Hollywood is really a dream factory, then it's the movie moguls and movie stars who live that dream to the hilt. In the late 1970s few lived quite as large as Robert Evans.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The best part is during the closing credits. Dustin Hoffman does a brilliant, dead-on impression of Evans that captures the essence of the man more than all the self-serving grandiosity that preceded it.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The result is a snazzy kick -- it's never less than hugely entertaining -- that should in no way be mistaken for an unbiased account. But then, Evans is the quintessential Hollywood character.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The overall effect is too self-worshipping to be of lasting interest. The guy sure isn't shy!

LA Weekly David Chute

Evans is a fascinating character, and deserves a better vehicle than this facetious smirk of a movie.

Village Voice Michael Atkinson

The movie's only discernible purpose is as publicity for the book. An admitted egomaniac, Evans is no Hollywood villain, and yet this grating showcase almost makes you wish he'd gone the way of Don Simpson. Instead, he'll probably get an Irving Thalberg award.