Only the Strong Survive
Miramax Films | Release Date: May 9, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
5
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
One for the time capsule. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie is the product of his (Friedman) big, shiny love of forgotten soul legends whom superstardom (and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I might add) has eluded. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
One of the happiest movies around. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
Fascinating group portrait of soul and R & B legends who are still touring 40 years after their original fame, enduring even after they've been relegated to the nostalgia circuit. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
It emphasizes its stars' capacity to endure as individuals and entertainers and does not dwell on the harder times and personal travails they survived. However, it acknowledges the well-known exploitation black artists have traditionally experienced in the pop music industry. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
Most of the music is as fine and fierce as you could want. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
This is no antique show: Faced with an audience, they are still amazingly vital and sometimes amazingly lewd. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
The No. 1 thing Only the Strong Survive will have to survive is being overshadowed by "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." Less focused than last fall's slam-dunk Funk remembrance, Survive is a more modest soul review. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
In its zeal to bring recognition to an underappreciated genre, it has an agenda similar to that of last year's revelatory documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Even with its flaws should be cheered for preserving the later years of these towering musical talents. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Agreeable and warm, is content for the most part merely to allude to complexity and darkness in the lives of its subjects. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
The frustrating part is that Only the Strong Survive includes at least as many mundane moments as soul-stirring ones -- and the film isn't much more than a collection of moments. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Captures some remarkably vivid present-day performances by the aging performers. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
I'd have welcomed more archival footage (Pennebaker did, after all, document Otis Redding's epochal performance at the Monterey Pop Festival), but that would be asking for another movie. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
But while Only The Strong Survive is essential viewing for soul fans, as a documentary it never makes the needed connections among the artists, their music, and the lives they lead. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis Harvey
Less an historical flashback than a present-tense valentine. Read full review
50
Washington PostRichard Harrington
The film could use a little less of the gee-whiz commentary of co-producer/narrator Roger Friedman and more storytelling from the survivors themselves. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyHazel-Dawn Dumpert
The rather sad performances boast more clams than a Pismo beach party. Read full review
30
Film ThreatDon R. Lewis
This film has so many chances to spice up the screen....and passes, I was wondering if I were watching an info-mercial for some kind of "K-Tel Classics- Revisted" album. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleJames Sullivan
Sometimes the story just lies there like an old cat in the sun. Read full review
10
SalonCharles Taylor
All Only the Strong Survive has to offer are scraps, and it's a sad thing to sit through a movie billed as a tribute to a group of terrific performers and to come away with nothing more than scraps. Read full review
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