American Chaos
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: September 14, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
6
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 13, 2018
[Stern] comes across as a sincere presence who is almost too polite and doesn’t challenge some interviewees who make wildly inaccurate and sometimes racist assertions based on ignorant viewpoints. But it could be argued his gentle, respectful style of an effective tool to get his subjects to reveal their true selves. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 6, 2018
It doesn’t take a hectoring Michael Moore or patronizing Dinesh D’Souza to properly account for “what happened” and “who these people are, and why” they supported Donald Trump. It turns out Trump supporters, “in their own words,” is the most damning portrait of them imaginable. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenSep 13, 2018
While an argument can be made for it being either “too late” or “too soon,” James D. Stern’s American Chaos nevertheless serves as a handy look back on the poll-defying perfect storm that cleared Donald Trump’s path to the White House. Read full review
60
The New York TimesKen JaworowskiSep 13, 2018
It was a prescient plan. Mr. Stern, a longtime Democrat, vowed to listen closely, and he seems to have kept his word. Though he doesn’t mask his expressions — usually astounded, though never mocking — he’s a genial interviewer, empathic, he says, even if he can’t be sympathetic. Read full review
58
TheWrapTodd GilchristSep 13, 2018
Ultimately, American Chaos isn’t bad, it’s just kind of too late to do any real good. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon HouptOct 11, 2018
Stern pledges to just listen rather than argue, and though what he hears is often bonkers and wholly unsupported by facts, he has compassion, at least for those who are not nakedly racist. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSep 13, 2018
Throughout the film, we always feel ahead — way ahead — of the narrator, even if the movie does contain a certain sense of dread for Trump detractors, as the inevitability of the election draws closer. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberSep 10, 2018
Stern's melancholy on election night in 2016 is genuinely affecting, but despite some incisive footage en route to the depressing conclusion, the film ultimately leaves us feeling that the director has become a little too close to his subjects to probe as deeply as our national chaos requires Read full review
12
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanSep 11, 2018
“Chaos” might have been better had the filmmaker revisited his interview subjects now that we are deep into Trump’s presidency. But that would have required additional work. If the film is a testament to anything, it’s Stern’s laziness. Read full review
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