Little Richard: I Am Everything
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: April 21, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
VarietyOwen GleibermanDec 7, 2023
Little Richard: I Am Everything, directed with supreme love and insight by Lisa Cortés, is the enthralling documentary that Little Richard deserves. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubLauren J. CoatesApr 19, 2023
Little Richard: I Am Everything manages to find the proper balance between grace and respect towards Richard’s legacy and valid criticism of his more unsavory views or ill-conceived exploits. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleApr 20, 2023
A long-overdue creation corrective that gives an outwardly revolutionary cultural icon his trailblazing due at the same time it grapples with the conflicted soul that rarely knew a lasting inner peace. Read full review
88
ObserverOliver JonesApr 21, 2023
While the subject of her film used his flamboyant nature, church-rooted vocals, and percussive piano to invent something completely fresh, Cortés has stuck to the tried and true. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyApr 21, 2023
Lisa Cortés uses the Big Bang as a visual motif throughout, with stars and galaxies exploding, hurtling out into the darkness. It is an apt analogy. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 19, 2023
By the end of this extremely entertaining and informative documentary, the one thing you will come away with is that Little Richard always presented himself the way he wanted us to see him. And, yes, he was indeed as influential as he always said he was. Read full review
85
Paste MagazineB. PantherApr 21, 2023
Elegantly shifting her lens between Little Richard’s biography and the history of the music that sprung forth from him, Cortés traces a nearly impossible trajectory without losing a grounded sense of context. Read full review
85
Film ThreatSabina Dana PlasseFeb 1, 2023
Cortés’s devotion to creating a film in honor and respect of Little Richard is also one of achievement and understanding for those who have been marginalized for being who they are. Read full review
83
The Film StageChristopher SchobertFeb 1, 2023
Little Richard was everything, and thanks to Lisa Cortés’ film his influence on everyone from Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix to Bad Brains and Harry Styles can never again be doubted. Read full review
80
NMEJordan BassettApr 28, 2023
In the end, there’s no doubt you’re looking at someone who, as academic Jason King puts it, “represented a complete upheaval of the existing social system” – and that we’re still enjoying the fruits of that bravery. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyApr 28, 2023
Lisa Cortés’ fond, scholarly, starry documentary not only ensures that the innovator behind Tutti Frutti and Good Golly, Miss Molly gets his due but also provides a rip-roaring bow for the artist variously known as the Georgia Peach, the Living Flame and the Southern Child. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 27, 2023
Little Richard emerges here as an exquisite figure, an aesthete and athlete: a butterfly who could never be broken on any wheel. Read full review
80
Time OutIan FreerApr 11, 2023
The welter of meticulously researched, perfectly chosen interview material cements Richard’s status as chat show gold – he initiated the term ‘Shut up!’ and could have probably made ‘fetch’ happen too – an endlessly engaging raconteur. Read full review
75
The Associated PressMark KennedyApr 19, 2023
Cortés argues that Little Richard created the template for the rock icon and she’s got the receipts, tracing his musical and stylistic influences through everyone from the Beatles to David Bowie, Elton John and Lizzo. If there was a king, he was it. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 20, 2023
In covering all the bases, the film’s energy can’t help but flag in the later acts. But Cortes has made an impressive music history that restores a “king” to his rightful place in rock royalty, one that acknowledges that everything outrageous about the music and the people who perform it, the stuff “your parents hated” about it, as Waters puts it, started with Little Richard Penniman. Read full review
75
ColliderRoss BonaimeFeb 3, 2023
Little Richard: I Am Everything has to do a lot in its relatively short runtime, from exploring the origins of the musician, explaining both sides of his personality, and also diving into Richard’s influence on the future of music. Thankfully, Cortés’ documentary handles all this beautifully, and will make the viewer want to immediately learn more about Richard, his extremely fun work, and the life that impacted so many around him. Read full review
70
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsApr 27, 2023
It’s refreshing to see a film like this which opts for an editorial line that’s not just wall-to-wall celebration, and actually attempts to dismantle and dissect its subject rather than merely lionise him to the hilt. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergApr 20, 2023
I Am Everything is content to be a thorough, energetic, largely chronological appraisal, more interested in saluting a musical legend who shook things up than in shaking up conventions itself. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 25, 2023
I Am Everything is most fascinating when it goes deep into his formative years and the influences of truly obscure figures like Esquerita and Billy Wright (both Black queer musicians). Yet the further into his life the documentary goes, the less insightful it becomes. Read full review
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