Bettie Page Reveals All
Music Box Films | Release Date: November 22, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDec 9, 2013
We’re taken back to a naive era, when the boundaries of “smut” were narrower, when even the images of an unlikely “adult” star (she never did sex films or “real” porn) seem now like good, clean fun. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinNov 27, 2013
[A] highly watchable portrait. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramDec 5, 2013
Director Mark Mori, whose last feature documentary was the 1991 exposé “Building Bombs,” does an entertaining job of conveying Page’s entire life in her own words and illustrating why she has become a worldwide symbol of liberated sexuality. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanDec 5, 2013
Bettie Page Reveals All earns its title from more than the uncensored images it includes. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleDec 5, 2013
Page, who died in 2008 in Los Angeles at the age of 85, makes for a blunt but engaging narrator who’s refreshingly candid about sex and her own inner demons. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartNov 22, 2013
In one of Hugh Hefner’s least creepy moments ever, he describes how they became friends later in life; with his help, she finally obtained the legal rights to her rampantly used image. Read full review
75
NPRElla TaylorNov 22, 2013
That she continues to invite not just Beyoncé and Katy Perry but millions of adoring men and women along for the ride is icing on the cake. Read full review
70
The DissolveNoel MurrayNov 26, 2013
After watching Bettie Page Reveals All, even longtime devotees may not be able to look at one of her pictures again without hearing her voice, remembering her story, and appreciating her joy all the more. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekNov 19, 2013
Mori — director of the 1991 documentary Building Bombs — assembles the information here with clarity and sensitivity. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 12, 2013
Despite Page’s excellent voiceover, “Bettie Page” suffers from embarrassingly choppy editing and a parade of stock film clips used to illustrate episodes recounted by its subject. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyNov 22, 2013
She is an engaging guide, humorous and honest, cynical and wise, with that same sense of innocent joy in her own fame that translated into in photos. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeNov 22, 2013
Page's no-regrets spirit and the enraptured testimonials from those who knew her in her prime (including some swooning ex-lovers) overpowers clumsy filmmaking. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 21, 2013
No life is seamless, and not every biographical portrait needs to be, but this one is so riddled with awkward transitions, including on the soundtrack, that it tends to lurch distractingly, as if Mr. Mori were still trying to figure out how to piece the whole thing together. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 21, 2013
Why does the movie waste so much time on empty adoration from celebrity fans and skim past the significant tragedies that contributed to her complex life? Parental neglect, sexual assault, severe mental illness — all of these factors shaped the woman Page became. But perhaps even today, no one wants to consider the sadness behind her 1,000-watt smile. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis HarveyNov 20, 2013
It has a somewhat routine midlevel-cable-production feel. But the content is engaging, and the use of old movie clips to illustrate biographical details... is amusing. Read full review
58
The Playlist Diana DrummNov 25, 2013
This film has all of the pieces to be a great and thorough documentary (a cult turned popular subject, new and old footage, interviews with admirers, friends and colleagues, authorization by the lady herself), but misses the mark. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 5, 2013
Only when it makes the claim for Page as a pivotal figure in American culture does it overstate the case and become tiresome. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaNov 19, 2013
Mark Mori goes a bit overboard in hammering home his appreciation of Bettie Page's significance, allowing the film to occasionally lapse into repetitiveness. Read full review
More From This Movie

64 Critic Reviews

5.9 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 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL