Mike Wallace Is Here
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 26, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
92
TheWrapSam FragosoMay 30, 2019
A masterful, cinematic biography that unpacks a man’s life through his work, showing us an uncompromising and difficult man who apparently wouldn’t have had it any other way. Read full review
90
Screen DailyAllan HunterJul 25, 2019
Avi Belkin’s fascinating, meticulously assembled documentary Mike Wallace Is Here fondly celebrates his life but also questions Wallace’s influence on the quality of public discourse in modern media. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 8, 2019
This is a time capsule — an expertly crafted time capsule — of an astonishing career. Read full review
83
The PlaylistKimber MyersJul 26, 2019
This is often an insightful film, but it’s full of delights for journalism, history, and political junkies alike. It doesn’t fully answer the challenging problem of where the line between the two needs to be, but at least it’s asking the right question. Read full review
83
The Film StageDan MeccaJul 25, 2019
Even seven years after his passing, that formidable presence and iconic voice envelop every frame. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleJun 11, 2020
Avi Belkin’s Mike Wallace Is Here harvests a vast archive of interviews and b-roll footage to create a fascinating profile of a combative, conflicted figure, who nevertheless substantially changed the face of how news was reported. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicScott CravenAug 7, 2019
The film deftly weaves news and interview clips from Wallace's half-century on TV with the times he himself answered questions as tough as those he asked, fleshing out one of the country's last formidable journalists. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJul 25, 2019
What results is a portrait of Wallace in effect in dialogue with himself, a presentation that puts viewers on edge a bit the way the man himself interacted with the world. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJul 31, 2019
Ultimately, it asks the one vital question: Was Wallace worth his cost? Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJul 31, 2019
Belkin’s smart, dynamic documentary shares its subject’s slam-bang style. That’s good. Watching it is exhilarating. It also shares Wallace’s aversion to nuance. That’s less good. Belkin has a weakness for split screens and rapid-fire editing. In fairness, that’s one way to cram in more material, and Belkin has lots (and lots) of material to cram in. Read full review
75
ObserverOliver JonesJul 26, 2019
While the man in the title may have played a part in ushering us towards this unfortunate state, Mike Wallace Is Here is nonetheless a refreshing return to a more promising era when a swashbuckling, nicotine-huffing newsman made powerful people sweat for our collective edification. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJul 26, 2019
Mike Wallace is Here, a documentary about the legendary and influential television interviewer who defined a particular kind of broadcast journalism, feels different from other documentaries about such figures, because it features no contemporary talking head interviews. Read full review
75
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJul 25, 2019
[An] absorbing new documentary. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJul 21, 2019
Much like its subject, Avi Belkin’s documentary knows how to start an argument. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 4, 2019
Lester’s film underscores how few TV talkers today have the stature, much less the spine, to ask questions that people don’t want asked, much less be required to answer. Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 30, 2019
This is an important and compulsively watchable portrait made by someone who understands the brute power of broadcast media and the people who make it for all the world to see, but it can only afford Mike Wallace with a little moment of truth, and the satisfaction of playing his part in the greater continuum of things. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 25, 2019
Avi Belkin’s documentary offers fascinating insights into what made its subject tick. Read full review
70
VarietyAmy NicholsonMay 30, 2019
He left behind enough tape from both ends of the microphone that Belkin is able to create his entire documentary with old footage, juiced by retro imagery of broadcast air waves and vintage dials and knobs. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 30, 2019
Wallace was clearly a very ambitious, capable and confident man, but the film, as absorbing as it is, is two-dimensional. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJosh ModellJul 25, 2019
To be blunt—which Wallace, who died in 2012, always was—Mike Wallace Is Here is fascinating but scattered, and never quite decides what its target should be. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 31, 2019
It’s also a telling personal moment, because it opens the door to a discussion of Wallace’s struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 11, 2020
This film does not offer any actual conclusions, but it is an atmospheric immersion in the old, smoky and very male world of American TV journalism. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergJul 25, 2019
There are times when you wish Belkin wouldn’t cut away so quickly and would allow answers to tough questions (or Wallace’s own words) to play in full. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Simon HouptAug 7, 2019
Belkin floats the notion that Wallace’s sharp-tongued style paved the way for the lying loudmouths who now populate our fractured media landscape (he flicks at Bill O’Reilly, Alex Jones and the U.S. President), but it feels like a half-hearted bid for contemporary relevance. At least his prickishness had purpose. Read full review
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