Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: September 25, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
1
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerOct 2, 2015
Douglas Tirola’s doc does the era and National Lampoon justice. The tone is sharp and freewheeling, the craziness is infectious and the pace is cocaine-quick. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 30, 2015
Douglas Tirola’s doc about the satirical bible’s rise and fall is fascinating, funny, smart, juvenile, tragic, and likely to offend just about everyone. It’s a must-see for anyone who cares about comedy. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenSep 24, 2015
Focusing on the magazine and not its offshoots, the film is uproarious, not for what its many talking heads say but for its astonishing procession of brilliant, boundary-breaching illustrations and captions (augmented by some animation), many of which are as explosively funny today as they were when first published. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 7, 2015
Douglas Tirola’s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead is a frenetic, rough-edged, unapologetic tribute to the Lampoon, featuring some amazing archival footage, nifty bits of animation and dozens of straightforward talking-head interviews that crackle and pop. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 24, 2015
Tirola’s punchy timeline hits the breaks at the ’80s flameout, wobbling in its handling of self-destructive editor Doug Kenney. But until the defunct Lampoon starts magically reappearing in your mailbox, this excellently titled pic will do nicely. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 15, 2015
Energetic, laugh-stuffed and very colorful (it would be a feat to make a dull film about these people). Read full review
80
VarietyBen KenigsbergJul 15, 2015
A generous and briskly entertaining doc. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianJeff BakerOct 16, 2015
Director Douglas Tirola threads his way through a minefield of egos and grudges in his interviews and does some interesting stuff with animation in his presentation of some of the magazine pieces. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelOct 8, 2015
What makes Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead feel particularly vibrant is how the Lampoon's specific art direction is put to use. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisOct 8, 2015
For the most part, though, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead spends its time celebrating an era in which the comedy frontier was distasteful, brutally honest, and innocent at the same time. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloSep 23, 2015
Ultimately, what makes Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead valuable is the sense it provides of how savage and uncompromising the National Lampoon was in its heyday. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreSep 22, 2015
Satire, parody, racist skewerings of racism, sacred cows slaughtered, silly slides down the slippery slope into Anti-Semitism. And breasts. Lots and lots of breasts! Read full review
75
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezApr 30, 2015
Comedy enthusiasts will love the look back on the groundbreaking magazine, its talented players, and the way the doc captures its irreverent spirit. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleOct 1, 2015
No matter how reflectively mellow the gray-haired, reminiscing interviewees are, the blizzard of featured illustrations from the magazine's '70s heyday offer scads of they-couldn't-get-away-with-that-today laughter. Read full review
63
Washington PostMark JenkinsOct 8, 2015
Douglas Tirola’s documentary is brisk and entertaining, if not especially thoughtful. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennySep 25, 2015
If you’re a scholar of comedy, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, a concise doc about the founding, life, thriving, and death of the '70s-defining satirical magazine, is likely a must-see. It’s an engaging and entertaining film, filled with funny anecdotes expertly related. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlSep 22, 2015
It's dispiriting that a film about a humor magazine that broke and rebuilt the forms of both humor and magazines is itself so staid — and so lacking in sociologic sweep. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineClayton DillardSep 21, 2015
It mistakes touch-and-go navel-gazing for comprehension, as if speaking to as many subjects as possible produces an inherently compelling take. Read full review
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