Los Angeles Plays Itself
Submarine Entertainment | Release Date: July 28, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Smart, funny, stimulating. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Mesmerizing. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It is a remarkable work, quite likely the best documentary on the City of Angels ever made. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleJohn McMurtrie
Ambitious and brilliant. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Andersen makes humorous hay out of the stark home designs of Richard Neutra — only suitable, it seems, for drug dealers. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Gliding from the physical to the metaphysical, Andersen reveals how films like ''Chinatown'' effectively remade the reality of Los Angeles, replacing history with myth in a way that now anchors the city more than that history itself does. Read full review
90
VarietyRobert Koehler
Los Angeles may be the most photographed city in the world, but it has never have been captured with such complex layers of meaning and fascination as in Thom Andersen's remarkable Los Angeles Plays Itself. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Dazzling cinema-essay. Read full review
90
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Thom Andersen's idiosyncratic, three-hour masterpiece is both a dazzling work of film criticism and a fascinating piece of urban anthropology. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Three words of advice to those who haven't yet seen it: Run, don't walk. Composed of excerpts from hundreds of locally shot movies past and present -- from grade-A prestige pictures to unrepentant grade-Z schlock -- Los Angeles Plays Itself serves as Andersen's exhaustive but never exhausting attempt to reconcile the myriad identities of the world's moviemaking capital. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
So terrifically entertaining, it would be a shame if it didn't inspire a companion piece on New York. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
What gives Los Angeles Plays Itself its extraordinary density is the way Andersen transforms a cliché into a metaphysical truth that encompasses far more than L.A. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
It is an essay in film form with near-universal interest and a remarkable degree of synthesis. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
A terrific cinematic essay that will have a very, very long shelf life. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
What Andersen does best is capture the sense of growing up and living among the landmarks of Hollywood's authentic back lot. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The commentary alternates between witty insight and opinionated bunk, but it's always fun -- and a must-see for movie buffs. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Gives us a fresh way to think not only about movies but about the town in which so many of them are made, and in that regard it's kind of amazing. Read full review
60
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Los Angeles Plays Itself, in spite of its length, is rarely tedious, an achievement it owes mainly to the movies it prodigiously excerpts. Read full review
40
EmpireNick De Semlyen
Andersen makes a far from inspiring guide, intoning his humourless points in a dry-as-powder monotone. Read full review
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