Mr. Untouchable
Magnolia Films | Release Date: October 26, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
As interesting, certainly, as “American Gangster,” and operating with a truer street sense of the characters involved. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
If Barnes ultimately emerges as a heartless, duplicitous villain, he's nevertheless got the devil's slippery, seductive charm. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
What emerges is a portrait of a complex man - one who had no qualms about murder and drugs but who won a national poetry contest and read "Moby-Dick" while in jail. Go figure. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
It's not a pretty picture, but it sure is a compelling one. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The "black Godfather" comes off as a cold-blooded narcissist whose vision of the American Dream is as twisted as it seems to have been rewarding. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichelle Orange
A fascinating first-person account of drug kingpin and ruthless gangster Nicky Barnes, whose outrageous story of rise, rule, rage, and revenge requires no such stylistic filler. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's fast and furious, and it proves that crime doesn't pay, unless you know how to do it right. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A slick package all around. Adroitly edited, filled with fine music like Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" and more people flashing needles than at a garment worker's convention, this film is less a dispassionate examination than a celebratory infomercial on its central character. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It's undeniably fascinating, but you might want to take a shower after hanging out with this unsavory bunch. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Barnes, now in his seventies and relocated by the Witness Protection Program, is shot only in silhouette, but there's plenty of footage of him in his heyday, dressed to the pimpalicious nines and playing to the cameras like a movie star. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
There is some acknowledgment of the terrible effects of the drug trade on residents of Harlem and other poor New York neighborhoods, but for the most part Mr. Untouchable clings to the standard hip-hop mythology of the pusher as entrepreneur, rebel, celebrity and folk hero. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Alternately seduced and repelled by its subject, the garish and power-hungry Harlem gangster and '70s cocaine kingpin Nicky Barnes, Mr. Untouchable is one seriously confused documentary. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Machiavelli epigrams and 70s soul classics embellish this slice of thug life, which succumbs to the usual hypocrisy of condemning Barnes while grooving on his cars, clothes, and jewels. Read full review
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