Jimi: All Is by My Side
Open Road Films | Release Date: September 26, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 25, 2014
Liberated from playing the hits, Benjamin eloquently captures Hendrix’s emerging style without having to succumb to jukebox-musical opportunism. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenOct 1, 2014
An evocative, probing, enlightening, and impressionistic look at the lesser-known period of Hendrix’s life: the pivotal time from 1966-67 during which the musician discovered his style and voice. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 24, 2014
The film's lack of such signature Hendrix tunes as ''Purple Haze'' may put off some — the filmmakers couldn't get the rights — but I'd argue that this obstacle forced Ridley to zig where most biopics zag. Which, when you think about it, is fitting for the story of a lefty who played his guitar upside down. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 26, 2014
With Jimi: All Is By My Side, writer-director John Ridley tries to do for the rock biopic what Jimi Hendrix did for rock 'n' roll itself in the 1960s — explode it, redefine it, and help it find its best self. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirSep 25, 2014
The damn thing is, Ridley very nearly makes this insuperable obstacle work to his benefit. He delivers a flawed, ambitious and deeply peculiar portrait of one of the 20th century’s most enigmatic musical talents, in the year before he ascended to rock-god status, that resembles no other pop-music biopic you’ve ever seen. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 25, 2014
The key reason "Jimi" doesn't need the signature music is the extraordinary performance of actor-musician André Benjamin. Read full review
80
The GuardianHenry BarnesMay 30, 2014
The result is an unpredictable film, a difficult approximation of a biopic. But it delivers a Jimi Hendrix experience somehow the richer for sidelining the man and subverting his music. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 30, 2014
What moviegoers do get is a film both thoughtful and convincing, sympathetic but not flattering to a man who had just three years after this period's end to make himself immortal. Read full review
76
Film.comJames RocchiSep 23, 2014
A closer, richer examination of a slice of time as specific as it is short. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaSep 26, 2014
That's something else Ridley and his actors do: make you appreciate what a life it was - impossibly short, impossibly brilliant. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 26, 2014
What’s fascinating about Jimi: All Is By My Side is not only its decision to show us this particular chapter in Hendrix’s life, but also the way it teases out the shadings in a famous figure we only think we know so well. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 25, 2014
The movie has a tossed-off, caught-on-the-fly exuberance that works like a charm. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 25, 2014
Mr. Ridley’s ambitions and refusal to treat Hendrix as a solvable mystery are welcome, given how often biopics re-embalm their subjects. Here, a legend is born, and a man too. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 25, 2014
Sure, the hits would have been nice. But it says something about Jimi: All Is by My Side (and Benjamin's performance) that it is still a success without them. Read full review
70
VarietyAndrew BarkerSep 23, 2014
Unsatisfying on a musical level, it’s nonetheless a well-acted, sporadically impressive piece of filmmaking. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 27, 2014
At times Jimi: All Is By My Side feels pure authentic. More often, though, it’s meandering and melodramatic, with far too many scenes of Hendrix jabbering and squabbling with two key female figures in his life, and not enough of the music. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneSep 24, 2014
Opting for scenes that tend to be fragmented, flawed snippets from a much bigger story, the film exudes a bizarre confidence in not trying to encapsulate the singer's whole life in 120 minutes. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreSep 23, 2014
Maybe Jimi: All is By My Side is as good a Jimi Hendrix bio-pic as we’ll ever get, at least so long as there are legal entanglements strangling the late guitar god’s legacy. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 27, 2014
Ridley and Benjamin have done more than capture Hendrix’s moves and sounds. They’ve captured his spirit. Read full review
60
The DissolveDavid EhrlichSep 25, 2014
All Is By My Side ends just as Hendrix is coming into his glory, but Ridley’s film—a remarkable showcase for Benjamin’s acting talent, and a terrible application of what Werner Herzog called “ecstatic truth”—is in the end a tragedy. Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichSep 24, 2014
There’s no real pleasure in any of the musical performances. And when married to the scenes exploring Hendrix’s tumultuous personal life—particularly his semi-abusive relationship with long-term girlfriend Kathy Etchingham (Hayley Atwell)—you’re left with a monotonously grim portrait that’s more rewarding in theory than execution. Read full review
60
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekSep 23, 2014
Whatever its flaws may be — and there are many — John Ridley's Jimi: All Is By My Side is compelling for one specific reason: It's more attuned to the women in Hendrix's life than it is to Hendrix himself. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 25, 2014
Here is where All Is By My Side runs into trouble. The real Etchingham has said, forcibly, that this didn’t happen — not the beating nor her subsequent attempted suicide, shown in the film. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 25, 2014
In making the movie, writer-director John Ridley had to negotiate with the Hendrix legend — that is, reality had to accommodate audience expectation. In that sense, Jimi: All Is by My Side does a reasonable job. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerSep 24, 2014
It’s hard to hear what All Is By My Side is saying about anything, given how many scenes feature vaguely druggy overlapping dialogue, part of a fussy sound design that’s paired with intentionally choppy editing. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartSep 24, 2014
Perhaps faithful to the spirit of the man, but frustrating if you’re actually curious about the facts. Read full review
25
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthMay 30, 2014
The film is not only one dimensional when it comes to its subject, but also of the time and place where Hendrix arrived. Read full review
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