American Dharma
Utopia | Release Date: November 1, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VoxAlissa WilkinsonSep 11, 2018
Morris’s film is less a takedown of its subject, and more a Rorschach test for its viewers. What you’ll see is precisely what you’re primed to see — and that, not Bannon’s ideas themselves, is the point. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerNov 13, 2019
Anyone expecting truth from Bannon is on a fool's errand, and the floating criticism that there's no confessional here is missing the entire point. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnSep 8, 2018
American Dharma delivers a suspenseful and upsetting showdown between one man confident of his cause and another mortified by it. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergOct 31, 2019
Certainly, American Dharma offers no comfort to those disturbed by Bannon or harmed by the policies he has pressed for. But Morris wants to map how Bannon thinks. The movie he has made is less an act of muckraking than it is a psychological thriller, with Bannon its implacable villain. Read full review
80
SlateSam AdamsSep 13, 2018
There’s a striking similarity in how American Dharma and "Fahrenheit 11/9" end, with the confident prediction that a revolution is coming, if it is not already here. Moore and Bannon are talking about opposite insurgencies, but they both see a country on the verge of explosion. Moore wants to light a match, and Morris wants to snuff one out. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloOct 29, 2019
What made this particular project so toxic? Simple: American Dharma is a fundamentally cordial conversation with Steve Bannon. Read full review
72
TheWrapTodd GilchristDec 12, 2019
American Dharma unfortunately brings its audience only to the brink of real discovery. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 6, 2019
Though this film analysis has its interest, the most involving parts of “American Dharma” are not Bannon expounding on his political philosophy but his postmortem on the nuts and bolts of the successful campaign he helped run against Hillary Clinton. Read full review
70
Film ThreatLorry KiktaOct 2, 2018
He has the capacity to both enlighten and infuriate simultaneously, making it impossible to take our eyes away from the beautifully shot trainwreck before us. American Dharma is the height of that signature Errol Morris style. Read full review
70
Screen DailyLee MarshallSep 8, 2018
The result is a fascinating but also in some ways frustrating film, a game of tag that looks resoundingly cinematic but feels like more of a cable or VOD prospect - not least because it lacks the killer punch, the Bannon stumble or revelation that would make American Dharma newsworthy. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungSep 8, 2018
American Dharma is meant to leave its audience shaken, whatever side they’re on. Read full review
67
The PlaylistVictor StiffSep 11, 2018
Does this film say anything liberals and conservatives didn’t already know? Probably not. It does offer a candid, civil, and up-close look at a man championing hard-right (some might say racist) ideals, which is more than viewers get from watching CNN-panel screaming matches and Fox News hagiographies. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 5, 2019
It’s a weird film all the way around. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 12, 2019
This is a surprisingly and disappointingly tame film, in which Morris is almost deferential to Bannon. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonDec 5, 2019
Bannon is an intriguing figure, a former liberal who went to Harvard Business School and did a hitch in the Navy. His turn in philosophy is worth exploring. He can undeniably hold attention — American Dharma is not a hard watch. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiNov 1, 2019
American Dharma is a frustratingly hollow look at Bannon that is ultimately so benign in its portrayal of the man that it comes closer to an example of fan service than a full takedown. Read full review
50
Slant MagazinePat BrownOct 28, 2019
The film feels rather like listening to the arsonist calmly explain why he set the fire as we continue to watch it rage. Read full review
50
The Film StageJosh LewisSep 14, 2018
Morris goes on about a “good Bannon” and a “bad Bannon” at length, flattering him by engaging in a “both sides” mentality that is deeply unhelpful seeing as how Trump supporters and #resistance folks are already going to go into Dharma with their minds made up. Read full review
45
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsOct 31, 2019
There are personal fragments of interest here; it’s useful to see how a man like Bannon narrates the story of himself, mythologizes himself, if only for the glimpses of worldview that sneak through in his presentation of the details. But the failure of Morris’s film is that it snuffs so much of that out. Read full review
40
CineVueChristopher MachellOct 31, 2019
In giving rope to Bannon and hoping that he’ll hang himself, we’re instead forced to watch him fashion a lasso and play at being John Wayne, with Morris seemingly powerless to stop him. Read full review
40
The New YorkerRichard BrodyOct 31, 2019
American Dharma succeeds neither as journalism nor as portraiture, neither as political critique nor as cultural survey nor as psychological study. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanSep 8, 2018
What you see in American Dharma isn’t investigative filmmaking — it’s a toothless bromance. Read full review
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