The Queen of Versailles
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 20, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 2, 2012
An indelible portrait of an American family at its most blithely macabre. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn HornadayJul 26, 2012
The Queen of Versailles turns out to be a portrait -- appalling, absorbing and improbably affecting -- of how, even within a system seemingly designed to ensure that the rich get richer, sometimes the rich get poorer. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 11, 2012
A succulently entertaining movie that invites you to splash around in the dreams and follies of folks so rich they're the 1 percent of the 1 percent. It's like a champagne bath laced with arsenic. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJul 11, 2012
To an extent, Greenfield tries to have it both ways with her film: she allows us to enjoy the fantasy of being rich, while also letting us see the bastards suffer a little. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJul 19, 2012
Schadenfreude and disgust may be unavoidable, but to withhold all sympathy from the Siegels is to deny their humanity and shortchange your own. Marvel at the ornate frame, mock the vulgarity of the images if you want, but let's not kid ourselves. If this film is a portrait, it is also a mirror. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 17, 2012
Although it's a guilty pleasure, The Queen of Versailles is artful enough that both the prosecution and the defense could invoke it when the peasants cry "Off with their heads!" Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenAug 2, 2012
Everything about The Queen of Versailles, a documentary both sharply observant and deliciously funny, is jumbo-sized – the riches, the rags, his ego, her breasts, their steroidal pursuit of happiness. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 2, 2012
By the end, the movie has pulled off a small miracle: You become absorbed in the lives of these people for who they are and not what they own. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 1, 2012
Some of Jackie's dialogue is so good it would distinguish a sitcom. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJul 26, 2012
The Queen of Versailles combines the voyeuristic thrills of reality TV with the soul-revealing artistry of great portraiture and the head-shaking revelations of solid investigative reporting. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 26, 2012
Queen of Versailles is still worthwhile, not because it questions all-American entitlement but because it prompts us to think hard about what, exactly, we believe we're entitled to. Read full review
85
NPRScott TobiasJul 20, 2012
Greenfield's refusal to pass judgment on the Siegels lends her subjects and their marriage unexpected complexity and depth - especially Jackie, a true force of nature. Read full review
85
MovielineAlison WillmoreJul 19, 2012
There's a certain type of painful honesty that shines through in both their interviews toward the end and, particularly, in those with the staff. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJul 19, 2012
Slickly made if not particularly stylish, the movie maintains its entertainment value for picking ideal models of American excess. Read full review
80
The GuardianSteve RoseSep 9, 2012
Never has grotesque wealth looked so unenviable, or its removal been so entertaining, as in this garishly watchable riches-to-rags documentary. Read full review
80
EmpirePhilip WildingSep 3, 2012
A bizarre and mesmerising journey to the heart of Cloud Cuckoo Land. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithAug 27, 2012
It's perfectly possible to like the title character of Lauren Greenfield's documentary – Jackie Siegel – while detesting everything she represents: grotesque financial inequality, jaw-dropping ignorance and appalling bad taste. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 9, 2012
The Queen of Versailles is funny, sad, infuriating, instructive. It's the American Dream inflated to ridiculous extremes, until it bursts. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenJul 19, 2012
In Greenfield's canny and compassionate view, their post-collapse reality check is an emblem of consumerism as affliction, and surprisingly relatable. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 19, 2012
This is certainly an apt time to make a crowd-pleasing movie about rich villains, but Greenfield is not an exploiter - she's an artist. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 11, 2012
For Greenfield, the Siegels are a brilliant metaphor for everything farkakte about the U.S. economy and the culture that shaped it. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJul 11, 2012
This timely and involving documentary elicits both sympathy and schadenfreude, as Greenfield regards her all-too-vilifiable subjects with a complexity that should impress viewers of all economic and political persuasions. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 26, 2012
The Queen of Versailles leaves viewers with one feeling about the Siegels: Let them eat stale cake. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyAug 2, 2012
Watching The Queen of Versailles you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickJul 20, 2012
The Siegels make the Kardashians and Donald Trump look like tasteful pikers when it comes to egregiously conspicuous consumption, sheer hubris and utter refusal to take responsibility for their actions. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 19, 2012
The point of the film is not to scorn or mock the Siegels, despite their excesses. They embody the quintessentially American urge to live beyond one's means. Their saga is simply the story of a nation's materialism writ large. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineBudd WilkinsJul 17, 2012
Lauren Greenfield's film evolves from an ode to entitled obliviousness to a more evenhanded character study, tracing the fault lines that develop within the Siegel family. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineRay GreeneJul 11, 2012
Greenfield's fly on the wall view of obscene wealth punctured like a toy balloon is as current as a blog or a headline. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 11, 2012
Like a Theodore Dreiser novel for our time, infused with the vivid, vulgar spirit of reality TV. It often had the sold-out Eccles Center howling, but also has elements of profound tragedy and allegory. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 1, 2012
The Queen of Versailles encourages the very worst tendencies in the audience: to sneer at the Siegels, to marvel at their tackiness, to root for their fall from grace. Read full review
60
Village VoiceKarina LongworthJul 17, 2012
I've seen The Queen of Versailles twice, and both times the audience laughed frequently at the Siegel family's sheer tackiness. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 17, 2012
Director Lauren Greenfield has a catty eye, but she's not after simple schadenfreude as the Siegels' time-share hotels are foreclosed, the kids have to fly coach [gasp], and poops go unscooped by a phalanx of laid-off servants. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 11, 2012
The Queen of Versailles will prompt loathing not only among the so-called 99 Percent, but among those in the top 1 percent who would like someone more sane to represent them on camera. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsJul 19, 2012
The steady wink wink of Queen of Versailles is wearing. I'd say Greenfield is exploiting a narcissist's willingness to talk endlessly about herself, but I think it just as likely that Jackie is exploiting Greenfield's willingness to listen. And to keep that wonderful mechanical eye focused on her. Read full review
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