Zappa
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: November 27, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiNov 27, 2020
I found the film to be an engrossing look at Zappa and his legacy that nevertheless avoids the mere hagiography that films of this sort run the risk of embracing when not handled properly. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshNov 23, 2020
In Zappa, this legendary artist’s uncompromising nature is bracing, bold and utterly refreshing. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 10, 2020
Alex Winter’s Zappa is perhaps the most thorough Zappa screen biography to come along, and that’s acknowledging how hopeless the job of making The Compleat Zappa bio-doc is. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 21, 2021
Key to the success of the film is the editing, a pinballing assault of free association, claymation and gleeful profanity, which goes some way towards recreating what it must have been like to spend time inside Zappa’s head. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeFeb 19, 2021
Perhaps overwhelmed by interviews, experimental movies and live footage, Winter allows few compositions to play at length. But the full man emerges in all his contradictions and confrontations. Read full review
80
The GuardianAndrew PulverFeb 19, 2021
There’s no denying Zappa’s personal charisma and devotion to his cause, nor his articulacy in its service. Winter has created a fascinating watch. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 18, 2021
An assortment of myths are exploded in Zappa, the baggily engaging docu-portrait directed by Bill & Ted star Alex Winter. Read full review
80
TheWrapSteve PondDec 13, 2020
As Zappa makes clear, Frank Zappa spent his whole career keeping himself unique, often to his credit and occasionally to his detriment. Winter’s movie does the same, in a way that does justice to a guy who’s not easy to do justice to. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanNov 23, 2020
It’s a multimedia immersion, filled with rare footage of Zappa from his teenage years on and assembled with the loving dexterity we’ve come to expect from Alex Winter as a filmmaker. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 27, 2020
Zappa also gently touches on Frank’s contempt for the general run of humanity, not just Tipper Gore and other members of the Parents Music Resource Center. He spoke witheringly of his appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” where the cast made fun of his lifelong no-drugs stance. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayNov 23, 2020
Zappa gives its subject his well-earned due within the rock firmament. But even more valuable, Winter gives Zappa pride of place among the most important composers of the 20th century, sharing some extraordinary performances of his little-known classical work. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiNov 9, 2020
The documentary is determined not to be a typical rock-god story with predictable rise-and-fall arcs. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearDec 3, 2020
Winter’s impressive doc admittedly works better as a preaching-to-the-choir portrait than a work of advocacy or conversion. But it is one hell of chronicle of Frank the Walking Contradiction: He was a rock star and a symphonic composer. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonNov 27, 2020
It’s a rare documentary portrait that doesn’t oversell its subject. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRaoul HernandezNov 27, 2020
Despite footage onstage with John Lennon and jamming “Happy Together” alongside Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, plus naturally him taking on censorship during farcical Congressional hearings in the Eighties, Zappa never adequately spotlights its raison d’être’s wit – hello, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Sheik Yerbouti, and Does Humor Belong in Music? Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 27, 2020
Alas, the trouble with trying to capture a mercurial artist on such a legible canvas is that the attempt — no matter how sincere and self-aware it might be — can only do justice to its subject through its failure to see them clearly. Read full review
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