Inequality for All
RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: September 27, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistKatie WalshOct 1, 2013
That a documentary about economics could be so personally emotional and affecting is remarkable. And to learn from Reich in this film, as his students at Berkeley do, is a treat and a privilege. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaSep 27, 2013
Wisely, Kornbluth strives to put a human face on the situation, focusing on several families who represent hard-working citizens who are barely making ends meet with their shrinking paychecks—let alone building up any savings. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramSep 26, 2013
Reich is a more lively speaker than Al Gore, however, frequently working jokes about his sub-five-foot height (his growth having been disrupted by a genetic disorder) into his presentation, and many of the film’s statistical interludes have been entertainingly animated as insurance against eyeball-glazing. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 27, 2013
It’s unseemly, I know, to praise a movie like this for the stand-up-comic affability of its host. But Reich’s engagingness also gives credence to the seriousness of his message. He’s all about fairness, and, in his demeanor, as well as in his presentation, he embodies that ideal. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 26, 2013
Reich and documentary director Jacob Kornbluth turn out to be the ideal collaborators to tell the story of what that gap is, why it happened and why it's important, all in a totally engaging way. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelSep 26, 2013
An engaging film that’s head and shoulders above the average talking-head parade. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 26, 2013
The wonkiness is at a minimum and Reich delivers it with tales from his own life, since he’s the son of a dress store owner and a mom who helped in the shop. Essential viewing, no matter how you cut it. Read full review
75
USA TodayScott BowlesSep 30, 2013
While not as revelatory as Al Gore's 2006 Oscar-winning documentary, Inequality makes a resounding case that the middle class is facing its own planetary crisis: becoming an endangered species. Read full review
75
Washington PostJohn DeForeSep 27, 2013
The job is not to convince us of something many Americans don’t want to believe, but to address something we all know is happening and nail down just how bad it really is. Judging from the pit left in a viewer’s stomach, it does the job pretty well. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 26, 2013
The fortunate thing about for Inequality for All is that, for all its good information and useful insight, it also has an appealing person at its center: Robert Reich, the economics expert and Berkeley professor who was also the labor secretary under Bill Clinton. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldSep 26, 2013
Mr. Reich ties together his talking points with a reasonable-sounding analysis and an unassuming warmth sometimes absent from documentaries charting America’s economic woes. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 26, 2013
Jacob Kornbluth's lively documentary is both a polemic and a teaching tool. Read full review
70
Village VoicePete Vonder HaarSep 24, 2013
The testimonials from a few of these people, with the realization they speak for tens of thousands, reinforces Inequality for All's sobering message while at the same time undercutting Reich's optimism. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenSep 20, 2013
Policy wonk Robert Reich’s analysis of today’s parallels to the Great Depression is both statistics-driven and impassioned. Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerSep 20, 2013
Covering a broad swath of liberal economic theory in brisk, simply stated fashion, Inequality for All aims to do for income disparity what “An Inconvenient Truth” did for climate change. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 2, 2013
Inequality for All creates a framework in which all this heavy material is easily digestible, and refashions Reich, the policy wonk, into an inspirational figure who argues that “history is on the side of positive social change.” Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 25, 2013
As a primer on its topic, Inequality For All is informative, plainly argued, and — in some of its more poignant anecdotes — suitably enraging. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon HouptOct 31, 2013
The film doesn’t feel like homework. Still, while its description of the problem is convincing, you wish it could offer more of a prescription. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughSep 26, 2013
Another problem with “Inequality” is that it offers nothing new or surprising. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKalvin HenelySep 26, 2013
Robert Reich's message to America, much like director Jacob Kornbluth's uncomplicated film, is so simple and straightforward (you might even say obvious) that, without nitpicking, it can appear flawless. Read full review
60
Time OutSam AdamsSep 24, 2013
Fortunately, Reich, who was Bill Clinton’s first-term Secretary of Labor, is an unflaggingly engaging speaker, and his class has higher production values than most independent films. (He has walk-off music. Walk-off music!) Read full review
50
NPRMark JenkinsSep 27, 2013
Reich has a good sense of humor, as is virtually required of an adult who's less than 5 feet tall — he has Fairbanks disease, the same condition that accounts for Danny DeVito's stature — so he's pretty much guaranteed a laugh when he hops to his feet and asks if he looks like an advocate of "big government." Read full review
50
The DissolveKeith PhippsSep 26, 2013
An advocacy doc constructed to make a clear political point first and function as a film a distant second. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle SmithSep 30, 2013
A cinematic listicle of misleading economic talking points. Read full review
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