Miss Americana
Netflix | Release Date: January 31, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 24, 2020
You wish you’d seen more of this Taylor a long time ago. But that’s the point of the whole movie, maybe: She was always there; it just took her 30 years to get to here. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 24, 2020
As Swift observes in the movie, powerful women are given the almost impossible task of being “strategic” but not “calculating,” and Wilson is so good at splitting the difference that some of her documentary’s most humanizing moments are beautiful for how they contradict Swift’s intention. Read full review
80
The New York TimesWesley MorrisJan 30, 2020
Wilson has captured Swift at a convincing turning point, ready, perhaps, to say a lot more. Read full review
80
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJan 24, 2020
Most of all, it’s empowering to watch Swift finally come into her own. To realize she doesn’t have to give a fuck about making everyone in the world like her anymore as long as she’s found a way to like herself. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinJan 24, 2020
What's ultimately very endearing about Swift is her intelligence and self-awareness, qualities that also make her music compelling, sophisticated and capable of appealing both to adolescent kids and hipster musicologists. Read full review
75
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonFeb 1, 2020
Whether as an amped-up look into a great singer-songwriter’s musical process from page to stage, or a deeper dive into the psyche of America’s most frustratingly composed artist, Miss Americana feels insightful and hypnotic. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJosh ModellJan 29, 2020
Whether this book is really open, and whether it reveals the “real” Taylor Swift or not, Miss Americana is convincing, positive, and entrancing nonetheless. Read full review
75
The PlaylistDilara ElbirJan 24, 2020
One of the strongest emotions that come through in the documentary is that the singer wants to be in control of who she is, her narrative, and her choices. So, it’s only fair that she is in control of her documentary because it will be watched by millions. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Craig JenkinsJan 30, 2020
Miss Americana peels away some of Taylor Swift’s complexities to reveal even more complexities. It’s an enjoyable document for fans looking to get a peek inside their favorite artist’s brain. Read full review
70
TheWrapSteve PondJan 28, 2020
It does have an intimacy that is rare for Swift, from the opening scene of her playing piano while one of her cats walks across the keyboard to several revealing glimpses of her writing songs in the studio. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 24, 2020
Watching the movie, you know you’re getting a controlled and sanded-off confection of pop-diva image management, one that’s going to leave anything too dark or messy or random on the cutting-room floor. Yet what matters is that the things we do see ring true. In “Miss Americana,” the vision Taylor Swift presents of herself is just chancy and sincere enough to draw us in. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleEd TravisJan 29, 2020
Perhaps the most charming element, beyond the constant presence of Swift’s cat, are the moments capturing Swift’s songwriting process. Read full review
67
The Film StageDan MeccaJan 24, 2020
While most of this authenticity reads as manufactured and a bit focus-grouped, it’s hard not to like this pop star. The phrase “she means well” can band-aid any manner of sins, but here it feels like a true descriptor. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowryJan 31, 2020
Taylor Swift details the process that lead her to speak out politically in Miss Americana, an uneven documentary that provides behind-the-scenes insight into the singer's upbringing and awakening, while occasionally feeling like the kind of celebrity reality series you might find on E! or Bravo. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 31, 2020
It’s hard getting to be “Miss Americana.” It’s almost impossible to stay “Miss Americana.” This semi-intimate film gives mere mortals an appreciation of the personal cost of getting there, staying there and staying reasonably sane and happy as you do. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comNick AllenJan 24, 2020
Lana Wilson's doc is engineered to appease her fans and promote Swift's self-awareness, and yet it leaves one feeling that there is still so much more to be discussed about what makes Taylor Swift who she is. Read full review
60
EmpireBeth WebbJan 31, 2020
Although certainly an insightful study of the pop star’s populated psyche, Miss Americana is more of a mid-album track than an anthem. What could be raw and rowdy instead feels like an entertaining but tapered means of rebranding. Read full review
60
SlateSam AdamsJan 27, 2020
A documentary about one of the most mediated, image-conscious people on the planet sounds like an oxymoron, and though director Lana Wilson is no hagiographer, Miss Americana is hardly warts-and-all. Read full review
55
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJan 29, 2020
The film looks away from that pure artistry too often, turning instead to its limited, and far less satisfying, view of Swift’s complicated star profile. Read full review
55
UproxxMike RyanJan 24, 2020
I think the Swift we have ten years from now will make a much more fascinating subject. What we see now feels more like the very beginning of her story. And there’s just not enough here yet at this starting point to sustain a feature-length documentary. Read full review
50
TimeJudy BermanJan 29, 2020
With a more elegant, purposeful structure or at least more time to explore her toughest choices, Miss Americana might have given fans a satisfying portrait of the real Taylor Swift. As is, it’s more like a sketch. And that’s a shame. After an album as bright and vivid as Lover, I can’t imagine I was the only one hoping for more color. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 24, 2020
The trouble with Miss Americana is that, although there is honesty and vulnerability, there’s also something rehearsed and distant about it. Swift invites us in, but she only lets us see so much. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 24, 2020
It’s brand management dressed up as insight and while it’s not not entertaining, it’s certainly far from particularly revealing, playing more like a PR exercise then a festival-worthy feature. Read full review
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