Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 3, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 11, 2013
Directors Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori’s film Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me looks at the band’s rise, such as it was, and its inevitable crumbling, as well as the influence its recorded legacy had on popular music. And it’s terrific. Read full review
85
NPRMark JenkinsJul 3, 2013
Big Star was essentially Chris Bell's band, and emotionally, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me is Bell's movie. Joining rock's dead-at-27 club via a 1978 car crash, he left behind a fine, then-unreleased album and two siblings who tell his story movingly. As they recount his final years, the sadness in Bell's songs comes to seem eerily prescient. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 4, 2013
Fans will want to replay the extensive archival footage over and over. Newcomers are more likely to pause halfway through, search out the superlative soundtrack, and immerse themselves in the music that inspired this rare, fall-and-rise story in the first place. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramJul 16, 2013
[A] thoroughly detailed (though a bit long) doc that charts the band’s thwarted expectations. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Adam NaymanJul 5, 2013
In the end, it’s the songs that provide the most eloquent and lasting testimony. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJul 1, 2013
If Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me leads even one person to listen to Big Star for the first time, this movie will have done a great service. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineBill WeberJul 1, 2013
A rock-doc that mythologizes the tragicomic flame out of power pop's seminal band, and the fan-made afterlife that brought them long-delayed success. Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 1, 2013
It’s a fascinating period in music and an equally fascinating story of promise, talent, expectations and failure. But you can’t help but feel that Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me won’t settle the most important argument of all to the unconverted — Were they as good as the hype? Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJul 3, 2013
A skillfully rendered narrative that should satisfy fans and pique the interest of the uninitiated. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJul 2, 2013
Big Star may not be the best introduction for those who don't yet have at least some passing familiarity with the bruised-knee wistfulness of songs like "Thirteen," or the quavery undersea despair of "Kangaroo." But for anyone already curious, Nothing Can Hurt Me delivers the goods. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldJul 2, 2013
A deserved tribute that puts us inside the music, and the head space, of a great, lost band. Read full review
67
The PlaylistCory EverettJul 3, 2013
While we still recommend it to fans of the band, be warned that it might leave you wanting an encore. Read full review
60
The DissolveNoel MurrayJul 10, 2013
Nothing Can Hurt Me is frustratingly unfocused, petering out considerably after its first hour. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearJul 2, 2013
Whether this love letter is more preaching to the converted than a corrective is arguable. Read full review
38
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeJul 4, 2013
Big Star’s fans are so passionate that this film may well please some of them, but as for myself, I already knew their music was genius. By the end, I was muttering at every critic and musician and record producer, “Guys, tell me something I don’t know.” Read full review
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