Author: The JT LeRoy Story
| Release Date: September 9, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireSep 9, 2016
Author is a particular kind of documentary: a first-person account of the creation of a myth by its creator. As such, it poses all sorts of questions about the intersection of art, celebrity and psychological disturbance in our media culture, but it also gives us Laura Albert as a shape-shifting artist of astonishing talent, resourcefulness and originality. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnJul 22, 2016
Director Jeff Feuerzeig tracks Albert’s bizarre scheme in her own words, constructing a fascinating treatise on creative desire, internal grievances and fame as compelling as anything the writer herself dreamed up. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 22, 2016
That Feuerzeig can navigate this hall of mirrors so cleanly and effectively is positively supernatural. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 15, 2016
Feuerzeig lets us put together the puzzle pieces of Albert’s story. The film’s final five minutes — a punch to the heart — make it all clear. Read full review
83
The PlaylistJason OoiSep 9, 2016
Author: The JT Leroy Story, a documentary from Jeff Feuerzeig,is as truthful as it gets. Yet its content is so wildly absurd, that it plays like a work of fiction. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattSep 7, 2016
Even when the film fails to ask so many of the questions its narrative begs, Author is still a tricky, fascinating look at the strange nexus of art, artifice, and the intoxicating cult of celebrity. Read full review
83
The Film StageJohn FinkJul 22, 2016
Author: The JT LeRoy Story is wildly entertaining and truly stranger than fiction. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 8, 2016
You may well question the worth of a documentary that so fully embraces the perspective of a narrator this unreliable, just as you may crave the reassuring conventions of a more balanced filmmaking approach. But even for those who don’t regard the notion of perfect objectivity with the wariness it deserves, there are compensatory insights in this movie’s unapologetic fascination with its subject. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt GlasbyJul 25, 2016
The result is so far-fetchedly entertaining it feels like a fantasist’s fevered imaginings. Which, in a way, it is. Read full review
80
The GuardianNigel M SmithJul 22, 2016
Author is less a run-through of one of the biggest controversies to plague the literary world in the past century, than an illuminating study of the enigmatic and driven woman behind the phenomenon. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 10, 2016
Your reaction to Author will come down the question that haunts the film, and assuredly Albert herself: Do the widely-praised writings of LeRoy become less praiseworthy when you know they were crafted under false pretenses? It's a question worth chewing on even if the film asking it stacks the deck. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 9, 2016
Feuerzeig makes the fateful choice of telling the whole story through Albert’s eyes, and decked out in too-old-for-this leather and straightened hair and piercings, she conjures up a hellish life. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartSep 8, 2016
Author is one of the most entertaining documentaries in recent memory — and, possibly, the origin story of catfishing. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSep 8, 2016
Even to those familiar with the bizarre affair, “JT Leroy” offers some new insights, not only because of the presence of Albert and her home movies, but also because of a treasure trove of phone recordings between JT and numerous luminaries. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesSep 7, 2016
The film effectively explores nature of identity, celebrity, and the creative process in a way that is satisfying, even if many of the questions it raises don’t go entirely answered. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenSep 14, 2016
Feuerzeig has made a fascinating documentary about a fascinating occurrence. Author implicitly stokes so many of the moral questions the incident inherently raises. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerrySep 15, 2016
We get Albert’s side of the story, and that’s clearly problematic. How much faith should we put in the account of someone who tells such massive whoppers? That question constantly hovers over Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary, which is by turns fascinating and unseemly. Read full review
More From This Movie

72 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 63 Normal
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL