Happy Valley
Music Box Films | Release Date: November 19, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistOktay Ege KozakNov 18, 2014
As it did with the actual case, Happy Valley will divide audiences and create heated discussions over the many contradicting reactions given by its subjects. However, there’s one point that won’t be controversial: It’s one of the best documentaries of the year. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlNov 18, 2014
Nothing in this film (and little in any other movie this year) compares to the scenes of Sandusky's adopted son, Matt, recounting his realization that the charges of pedophilia against Sandusky squared with the ways Sandusky had treated him, too — treatment he'd never been brave enough to admit. Read full review
90
The New YorkerDavid DenbyNov 17, 2014
Happy Valley is a devastating portrait of a community — and, by extension, a nation — put under a spell, even reduced to grateful infantilism, by the game of football. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 27, 2014
Happy Valley might've fleshed out some of these larger implications. The film could've benefited from another 15 or 20 minutes of detail and nuance. What's there, though, is strong, thoughtful and disturbing. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 20, 2014
Happy Valley is especially good at revealing a mass desire to shift blame, showing how everyone the scandal touched wanted to focus on the aspect that made them the least responsible. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 20, 2014
It’s a ruined community grappling with belated ethics; that’s the real story here. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottNov 18, 2014
Happy Valley, even as it revisits past events, has a chilling timeliness. Read full review
80
The DissolveNoel MurrayNov 18, 2014
Happy Valley’s subject matter is difficult, but not Bar-Lev’s approach, which unfolds like an outstanding piece of long-form magazine reportage, taking into account history, culture, and the personalities of multiple major characters. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisDec 4, 2014
The film’s strongest point of view is that big-time football has become a precious way of life and induces a religious fervor that can warp the judgment of even well-intentioned people. It’s not a groundbreaking thesis, but we still get a fascinating tour of a town that may never be the same again. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzNov 20, 2014
It's slightly frustrating that the movie doesn't venture a point-of-view on any of these larger issues, which are less clear cut than the matters of sexual abuse and its immediate enablers. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangOct 23, 2014
For a film that is very much about the need to continually question our heroes and hold them to a higher standard, Happy Valley offers an unapologetic tribute to one man’s painful honesty and a tacit rebuke to those who couldn’t muster anywhere near the same courage. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 21, 2014
The documentary offers a compelling overview of the case, but Bar-Lev spends too much time painting Paterno as a victim and scapegoat. That advocacy doesn't sit well. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayNov 17, 2014
Once the media caravan departs, the doc meanders, torn between its obligation to reportage and its interest in a town riven by America's thirst for justice. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeOct 23, 2014
Less an investigation into or comprehensive summary of the Penn State sex-abuse scandal than a look at the feelings it elicited, Amir Bar-Lev's Happy Valley is more concerned with the phenomenon of team spirit than any single question of fact or moral judgment. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloNov 18, 2014
Happy Valley’s interviews with figures directly related to the case—Paterno’s widow and sons; Sandusky’s adopted stepson, who suddenly declared himself another of Sandusky’s victims toward the end of the trial, after having previously denied having been abused—shed no light on the subject whatsoever, coming across like an obligatory waste of time. Read full review
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