Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: December 7, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critics
Positive:
15
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 11, 2018
A well-researched and richly observant documentary from Alexis Bloom about the climate of lies and systemic abuse that nurtured Ailes and allowed his behavior to flourish. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 10, 2018
What emerges is a portrait of a man whose fall was precipitous but whose sensibility and techniques outlive him and continue to evolve. This is the acid test for a good journalistic documentary: No matter how far back it reaches, Divide and Conquer always feels as if it’s in the present tense. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanDec 6, 2018
In the piercing and perceptive documentary Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes, it’s fascinating, in an outrageous and distressing way, to witness the moment when Ailes transformed the nation’s political landscape virtually overnight. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergDec 6, 2018
It conveys a credible sense of Ailes’s psychology through the testimony of peers and co-workers who witnessed his ruthlessness firsthand. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 6, 2018
The result is a compelling but chilling film, one that is inevitably disheartening and disturbing as it details both how Ailes came to understand the nature and power of fear and how he honed his craft until he could sell fear to his fellow citizens like it was going out of style. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKimber MyersJan 3, 2019
Even for those who do know Ailes’ history of profound power abuse and sexual harassment, Divide & Conquer is engrossing. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyDec 7, 2018
Amid all the jaw-dropping tales of bullying behavior, there is a constant and almost mordant acknowledgement of the one thing that Ailes was scarily right about: that no public official will ever again be elected “without the skillful use of television.” Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon HouptDec 6, 2018
It’s naive to blame the current cancerous state of American politics on a single carcinogen, but don’t let that stop you from pointing fingers at Roger Ailes. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 6, 2018
"Divide and Conquer” illustrates the similarities between Ailes and Trump so well that the documentary’s happy ending can’t help but leave behind a queasy aftertaste: Ailes may be dead, but he’s still the most powerful man in the world. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 5, 2018
Ultimately, Divide and Conquer offers useful lessons — and maybe even a little hope — for people on both sides of the national divide, about just how we came to this terrible, but not irreversible, place. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 30, 2018
“Divide” is a damning film, with just enough new material to entice the curious. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiNov 29, 2018
Alexis Bloom’s keenly insightful and deeply depressing documentary is probably best viewed not as a record of the past but a document of what’s to come. Read full review
70
TheWrapRobert AbeleDec 6, 2018
If you’re looking for a quick medicinal shot of how we got to Trump in the White House, the bracing “Divide and Conquer” feels like one of the more alarming civics courses you’ll ever take. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonDec 6, 2018
Alexis Bloom's damning documentary is a competent but conventional affair, highly watchable but low on fresh angles or bombshell revelations. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 5, 2018
A brisk and reasonably thorough dog trot through a life that was simultaneously invisible and all powerful, and it’s goosed along with slick production techniques that more than once get in the way. Read full review
50
Original-CinLiam LaceyDec 6, 2018
There’s one illuminating segment in Alexis Bloom’s documentary, Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes, which might have made a fascinating stand-alone short doc. Read full review
50
The Film StageDaniel SchindelDec 6, 2018
It’s always frustrating when a documentary is so intent on one story that it plainly misses a more interesting one that’s, just… right there. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoDec 5, 2018
Although it’s good to have a critical accounting of his role in modern American politics, most of what we see here has been reported elsewhere, and this documentary seems aimed at rallying the troops. Read full review
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