Exit Through the Gift Shop
Producers Distribution Agency (PDA) | Release Date: April 16, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
85
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
That rarest of art documentaries, one that actually leaves viewers with a better sense of the gifted versus the phony. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
An exhilarating hall-of-mirrors look at what happens when global art fame turns anonymous, artists become objects, fans turn into artists, and the whole what's-sincere-and-what's-a-sham spectacle is more fun than art was ever supposed to be. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Subversive, provocative and unexpected, Exit Through the Gift Shop delights in taking you by surprise, starting quietly but ending up in a hall of mirrors as unsettling as anything Lewis Carroll's Alice ever experienced. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy Burr
One of the best, most karmically satisfying comedies of the year, much to the chagrin of the people who are in it. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
A documentary that doubles as a comic thriller, and it’s as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Whatever it is, Exit Through the Gift Shop is an original. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJustin Lowe
Hugely entertaining documentary challenges conventional concepts of legitimate art and the creative process. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
Exit could be a new subgenre: the prankumentary. Audiences, however, would be advised simply to enjoy the film on its face -- even if that face is a carefully contrived mask. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Some have suggested that the whole story, including the emergence of Mr. Brainwash, is an elaborate hoax engineered by Banksy to satirize the commodification of art. If so, it’s a brilliant one. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicRichard Nilsen
A sparkling documentary in which we can't trust that anything in it is true. And yet you would never call it a hoax. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
It’s endlessly arguable and open for debate. At the very least, we can all agree that Banksy has found a new wall on which to plaster his art – that of the silver screen. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A beguiling and subversively funny entertainment that considers art's worth from many angles, including that of guerrilla painters, gallerists, and seasoned collectors. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The widespread speculation that Exit Through the Gift Shop is a hoax only adds to its fascination. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The brilliantly untrustworthy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop reminds us that a film can start out in one direction and then change course so radically, it becomes an act of provocation unto itself. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
For a public that's been bullied by the tastemakers, the mystery is a gift. Once we exit this fun house, the only giant left to obey is ourselves. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
What makes Exit Through the Gift Shop so fascinating -- and it is riveting, regardless of your interest in the art world -- is the eloquent way in which it illustrates how beauty and meaning really are in the eye of the beholder and how that eternal phrase still holds true: There's a sucker born every minute. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A diverting, playful and puzzling documentary. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Narrated by Rhys Ifans with the dryness of a dessicated toad, Exit Through the Gift Shop is both an exhilarating testament to serendipity and an appalling testament to art-world inanity. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter Debruge
A raucously entertaining postmodern survey of guerrilla street art that appears to be one thing, only to fold back on itself and examine would-be filmmaker Thierry Guetta instead. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAaron Hillis
Not just the definitive portrait of street-art counterculture, but also a hilarious exposé on the gullibility of the masses who embrace manufactured creative personas. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
This faux-documentary is droll, aerosol-thin and ultrameta. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Along the way, the movie documents a movement while deftly skewering a cynical media and ever-gullible public. So whether we're being had or just enlightened, Banksy's definitely found a new medium in which to create his own works of art. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
The British street artist's hilarious documentary is a head-spinning, wild ride. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
A fascinating and entertaining glimpse into the world of high-level and socially conscious graffiti artists? Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The line between making guerrilla art and selling out has never blurred more provocatively. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
It's mainly about a supremely annoying French-born LA clothier who became a hugely successful artist without pausing to consider his utter lack of originality or talent. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
As a study in prankhood, this Banksy film can’t touch “F for Fake,” Orson Welles’s 1974 movie about an art forger. Welles both conspired with his untrustworthy subject and held him at arm’s length, like a conjurer with his rabbit, and you came out dazzled by the sleight, whereas Exit Through the Gift Shop feels dangerously close to the promotion of a cult--almost, dare one say it, of a brand. Read full review
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