Operation Filmmaker
Icarus Films | Release Date: June 4, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Operation Filmmaker takes a thrilling left turn from its original conceit, and Davenport does a nice job rolling with the punches. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The film's parallels between Mohmed's travails and the Iraq war are forced, but overall this is a fascinating odyssey that never plays out in ways you would expect. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Operation Filmmaker is eventually about Muthana blackmailing Davenport by withholding access to him as she fruitlessly seeks a happy ending for her film. "Now, I'm just looking for an exit strategy," she finally concludes. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
For all her own frustrations, Davenport is honest enough not to gloss over the fact that what Muthana's adventures in the screen trade taught him was to hustle, toady and ingratiate himself to useful people. And she helped. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This gut punch of a documentary will knock you for a loop. File it under "no good deed goes unpunished." Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It spreads the punishment around, from the executive suites of Hollywood to the mean streets of Baghdad. Everyone here comes out smelling bad - that's why the film's so good. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Operation Filmmaker doesn't quite shake out as a microcosm of the American-Iraq relationship, although Davenport cheekily toys with the conceit. But the movie is endlessly resonant. Read full review
60
VarietyEddie Cockrell
Picture raises pithy questions sure to provoke animated discussions pro and con. Credit Davenport for a mostly unbiased presentation that presents her own disenchantment in a balanced manner. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Although Ms. Davenport pushes the analogy between this modest rescue operation with America’s invasion of Iraq a bit too forcefully, she nonetheless makes her point with persuasive, touching candor. Read full review
60
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A fable for our reality-TV reality, Nina Davenport's Operation Filmmaker is as much virus as video documentary. This essentially comic tale maps a contagion of mutual exploitation that seems to have burnished the careers of everyone involved. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Davenport herself seems stunned by how complicated the story turns out to be, which just makes her movie all the more worthwhile. Read full review
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